I'm especially interested in if, when and under what circumstances a provider is destroyed
It is created when your process is started (even before your Application
object is created), and it lives until the process is terminated.
how long does its process live?
That varies based upon what is going on with the app, the user, and the device.
Would that process continue to run indefinitely?
No.
When the system is running low on resources, Android destroys components like Services.
No, it does not. When the system is running low on RAM, Android terminates processes.
Are ContentProviders not also candidates for being destroyed when resources are tight?
A process containing a ContentProvider
can be terminated, whether due to low memory conditions, old age, user action, etc.