What is muon decay?
The muon decay is a radioactive process which follows the usual exponential law for the probability of survival for a given time t. Muons are rather penetrating particles, they can easily go through meters of concrete. Nevertheless, a small fraction of the muons will be slowed down and stopped in the detector.
What does boson decay into?
The W− boson subsequently decays into an electron and an electron antineutrino. In weak interactions, the total number of quarks minus the total number of antiquarks is the same both before and after the interaction. The number of leptons is also conserved.
Can neutrinos decay?
The observation of neutrino oscillations – and hence neutrino mass – by the Super-Kamiokande experiment last year was one of the major physics discoveries of the 1990s. However, a team of US scientists is now proposing that the results can be explained by a new phenomenon – neutrino decay.
Do electrons decay?
The electron is the least-massive carrier of negative electrical charge known to physicists. This violates “charge conservation”, which is a principle that is part of the Standard Model of particle physics. As a result, the electron is considered a fundamental particle that will never decay.
What are pions and muons?
Cosmic rays – high-energy particles (mainly protons) from outer space – bombard atoms in the upper atmosphere, causing spectacular nuclear disintegrations. Whereas the muon is uninfluenced by the strong force that works inside the nucleus, the pion plays a role in binding protons with neutrons.
Why do we call them bosons?
The name boson was coined by Paul Dirac to commemorate the contribution of Satyendra Nath Bose, an Indian physicist and professor of physics at University of Calcutta and at University of Dhaka in developing, with Albert Einstein, Bose–Einstein statistics, which theorizes the characteristics of elementary particles.
What is a neutrino decay?
Neutrinos are born in various decays, which is when a particle changes from one type into another. This is particle decay. A common example is when the muon decays into an electron, an electron antineutrino, and a muon neutrino (μ → e + ¯νe + νμ).
Do molecules decay?
Although most particles disintegrate [the technical term is “decay”] into other particles, a few types of particles do not.
What is the difference between a quark and a lepton?
Fermions, in turn, can be put into two categories: quarks and leptons. Quarks make up, amongst other things, the protons and neutrons in the nucleus. Leptons include electrons and neutrinos. The difference between quarks and leptons is that quarks interact with the strong nuclear force, whereas leptons do not.
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