What causes a particle to decay?

Particle decay is the spontaneous process of one unstable subatomic particle transforming into multiple other particles. A particle is unstable if there is at least one allowed final state that it can decay into. Unstable particles will often have multiple ways of decaying, each with its own associated probability.

Why do electrons decay?

The electron is the least-massive carrier of negative electrical charge known to physicists. If it were to decay, energy conservation means that the process would involve the production of lower-mass particles such as neutrinos. As a result, the electron is considered a fundamental particle that will never decay.

What causes the decay of a neutron?

A neutron in a nucleus will decay if a more stable nucleus results; the half-life of the decay depends on the isotope. If it leads to a more stable nucleus, a proton in a nucleus may capture an electron from the atom (electron capture), and change into a neutron and a neutrino.

What do elementary particles decay into?

In nuclear decay, an atomic nucleus can split into smaller nuclei. But the decay of a fundamental particle cannot mean splitting into its constituents, because “fundamental” means it has no constituents. Here, particle decay refers to the transformation of a fundamental particle into other fundamental particles.

Why do heavier particles decay?

Particles decay via the weak interaction, heavy (more energetic) particles decaying to lighter ones releasing other particles and/or photons as they do so. The reason they do this is because it is energetically more favourable for heavier particles to disintegrate into lighter ones.

Why do photons not decay?

Since the photon is (as far as any experiment can tell) massless, there is nothing to which it can decay. That is why light waves can travel across a room, across space from the sun, and across the universe without disintegrating in flight.

What particles are formed by the decay of neutron?

The neutron decays into a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino of the electron type.

Do all particles decay?

Although most particles disintegrate [the technical term is “decay”] into other particles, a few types of particles do not. The other neutrinos, the proton, and many atomic nuclei (and their anti-particles … …

Why do quarks decay?

Up and down quarks can decay into each other by emission of a W boson (this is the origin of beta decay due to the fact that the W can, depending on its type, decay into electrons, positrons and electron (anti-)neutrinos, ).

Can a particle decay to two or more particles?

1) A PARTICLE MUST DECAY TO TWO OR MORE PARTICLES. This is why every decay that we see in nature involves two or more particles emerging from a single one. It follows simply from the laws of nature that the total energy and total momentum must stay constant in any physical process (or as physicists say, “energy and momentum are conserved.”)

Can a particle with a mass m1 decay to 2 and 3?

A particle (“parent”) with a mass m 1 may only decay to particles 2 and 3 (“children”) if the sum of masses of the children is less than the mass of the parent: m 2 plus m 3 must be less than m 1. This is a simple consequence of the law of nature that the total energy must stay constant in any physical process.

Why are energy and momentum conserved in decay?

This is why every decay that we see in nature involves two or more particles emerging from a single one. It follows simply from the laws of nature that the total energy and total momentum must stay constant in any physical process (or as physicists say, “energy and momentum are conserved.”)

What are the conditions for a particle to be unstable?

The particles created in this process (the final state) must each be less massive than the original, although the total invariant mass of the system must be conserved. A particle is unstable if there is at least one allowed final state that it can decay into.