After pressurizing to one thousand times atmospheric pressure, Tom temporarily stopped the hydrogen infusion and began to meticulously check the operational status of all functional modules of the entire detector.

After all, this was the first high-pressure proton decay detector he had built, so he had to be cautious.

After a thorough inspection, Tom breathed a sigh of relief.

All modules were operating normally, with no unexpected issues.

So, the hydrogen infusion continued.

Under the operation of the high-pressure gas compressor, even though the pressure inside the inner spherical shell had reached one thousand atmospheres, a continuous stream of hydrogen was still forced in.

The volume was already fixed and could not increase, but the mass was continuously increasing, which correspondingly led to an increase in density.

The density of hydrogen began to increase rapidly.

Under normal circumstances, the density of hydrogen is only 0.07 \text{ kg/m}^3, which is only about 1/15,000th of that of water.

Now, its density had increased by more than a thousand times, reaching 84 \text{ kg/m}^3!

Correspondingly, its temperature also began to rise rapidly, from the original minus 200 degrees Celsius to tens of degrees Celsius at this moment.

This was unacceptable, because in Tom's design, this ultra-pure hydrogen had to maintain an extremely low temperature to ensure the accuracy of the detector.

So, the cooling system was activated.

Through some pipes installed inside the inner spherical shell and some temperature control equipment installed outside the spherical shell, heat was transferred out and dissipated into space in the form of thermal radiation through large, solar panel-like structures.

Pressurization and cooling proceeded simultaneously.

Under the continuous infusion of external hydrogen, the state of the hydrogen underwent peculiar changes.

The hydrogen gradually turned into liquid, and then gradually into solid.

They became crystal clear, like water freezing.

However, although solid, under immense pressure, these solids could still be easily reshaped like gases or liquids, filling every part of the inner spherical shell without any omissions.

The hydrogen infusion phase lasted for about half a year, and at this moment, a total mass of 1.6 billion tons of hydrogen had been completely infused into the massive inner spherical shell.

The pressure inside it had increased to the predetermined 400,000 times atmospheric pressure.

At this moment, the seven accompanying nuclear fusion plants also entered full-power operation, fully transferring the pressure from the inner spherical shell to the outer spherical shell, and then dissipating it using the super-strong performance of the specially made ropes (similar to those used in Space Elevators).

At this moment, the inside of this inner spherical shell, with a radius of about 640 meters, was completely filled with solidified hydrogen, without any omissions.

After observing and confirming that the detector was operating normally, Tom finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It was time to enter the observation phase.

At this moment, the number of protons inside this inner spherical shell had reached 10^{39}.

Calculating with a proton lifetime of 10^{37} years, on average, about 100 protons would undergo proton decay inside this detector each year.

Assuming a detection accuracy of 20%, if all went well, Tom should be able to detect 20 proton decay events per year, averaging about once every 18 days.

Once the detector entered its formal operational phase, Tom stopped all mechanical operation tasks inside the detector.

At this stage, the only equipment operating inside it were some electronic devices that basically produced no noise or vibration.

They had no gears, no conveyor belts, and basically produced no vibration.

At the same time, Tom also withdrew all personnel and robots working inside it, and he strictly guarded against any possible external impact events.

Even impacts as small as dust would be intercepted by Tom.

The sole purpose was to keep this detector in a state of almost absolute stillness and absolute quietness.

Time quietly passed as Tom patiently waited.

One day, the precise detection equipment installed on the inner spherical shell suddenly reported a vibration signal to Tom.

A very slight vibration had occurred.

Tom's heart instantly tightened.

Controlling tens of thousands of clones to quickly check all the detector's operational data during this period, and after ruling out all possibilities of external interference, Tom finally made a judgment with great excitement.

This vibration was almost impossible to be caused by error.

And, after ruling out almost all possibilities of external interference, the source of this vibration was left with only one possibility.

It came from inside the detector!

Based on the detector's structure and detection mechanism, this vibration could almost only come from proton decay!

Among the 10^{39} protons, one proton suddenly spontaneously decayed into a "Light Neutrino" and then escaped from inside the detector.

Its sudden disappearance left an extremely tiny cavity inside.

Based on the immense external pressure, the surrounding hydrogen atoms had to quickly fill this cavity, which then caused a vibration due to their violent collisions with each other.

This mode was somewhat similar to a core-collapse supernova explosion.

Core-collapse supernovae are also caused by the sudden loss of internal support, leading to a large amount of matter falling inward and colliding with each other.

The energy density of this collision occurring inside the detector at this moment was extremely high.

However, compared to a supernova explosion, its total energy was extremely, extremely low.

No matter how high the pressure or how fast the collision speed, it was merely the cavity of a single atomic nucleus; how much could it be?

Its overall intensity was even tens of thousands of times lower than a single leaf quietly falling on Earth.

However, this detector was consistently maintained in a state of almost absolute quietness.

At the same time, the vibration sensors designed by Tom were also extremely, extremely sensitive.

Therefore, even such a slight vibration, in Tom's eyes, was as loud as a spring thunderclap.

At this moment, Tom was so excited he could barely contain himself.

Proton decay—he had finally, for the first time, truly detected proton decay!

This was a major scientific discovery no less significant than magnetic monopoles!

Although this was only the first detection, and he had not yet had time to conduct further observations on the mode of proton decay or acquire related knowledge, merely confirming proton decay itself was already significant enough.

This at least proved that his approach was correct!

At the same time, it fully proved that his theoretical framework was correct.

Too few samples?

What's there to fear!

As long as the approach is correct, with my industrial strength, building ten or a hundred similar detectors is an easy matter, and the number of samples can be increased very quickly.

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