Particle Decay (Homework 5, Physics 226)
Observation
4-vectors are p,u,f
3-vectors are $p ⃗,v ⃗,F ⃗$
Conservation of 4-momentum for A (incident), and B,C (emerging particles) can be written as
$\mathbf{p_a}=\mathbf{p_b}+\mathbf{p_c}$
Square
$\mathbf{p_a^2}=\mathbf{p_b^2}+\mathbf{p_c^2}+2\mathbf{p_b p_c}$
Take equation (3.3.9): $\mathbf{p^2}=-m_0^2 c^2$
$-m_0a^2 c^2=-m_0b^2 c^2-m_0c^2 c^2+2\mathbf{p_b p_c}$
Take the reference system choice such that emerging particle C is at rest.
$\mathbf{p_b p_c}=-E_b*m_0c$
Therefore
$m_0a^2=m_0b^2+m_0c^2+2E_b/c^2 *m_0c$
and since $E_b=m_b*c^2$ with $m_b>m_0b$ then $m_0a>m_0b+m_0c$
b)
If particle C is mass-less then we have (in particle A reference system)
$\mathbf{p_c}=(0,0,0,E_c/c)$ and $0=\mathbf{p_b}+\mathbf{p_c}$ and $|p_b |=-|p_c |$
And therefore
$(p_c ) ⃗=0$ and |$(p_b ) ⃗ |=-E_c/c$