Recent content by HeavyWater

Thank you for the rapid response Orodruin.

We know the results of Einstein's experiment in 1919. Simply stated, the sun deflected the paths of photons. The results were exciting for many reasons--one of which was that photons have no mass. Neutrinos do have mass. Do other massive objects, such as the sun, deflect the paths of neutrinos?

Seeing these great responses just reminds me of my frustrations being a small time physicist. Thank you Samalkhaiat and others for taking the time and patience to answer my questions.

I know the responders are busy...but no one has responded to the last sentence in my query--it's about how to arrive at both terms in equation 2.4 in the (above) specified reference. Please read it again--if you don't know the answer it's ok to say so.

See Reference: ArXiv: 1208.0644 The Bargmann Wigner Method seems to be a means to obtain wave equations for higher spins, I.e. j=1, 3/2, 2, etc. In this method, one uses a Dirac-like equation to operate on a wave function. For example, equations, 2.2 and 2.3 show Dirac-like equations that...

...continuing with my question...and thank you for your help so far. I don't feel like I am understanding the use of the infinitesimal transformations and the Poisson Brackets as described by Goldstein (1965), p260,261. Here is an example; I am leveraging the work of Galvao and Teitelboim, Feb...

Thank you jambaugh for an OUTSTANDING ANSWER! I need to think about your response and especially about Noether's Theorem (something I hear about but have never sat down and really concentrated on it). I will come back with a follow up question about those pesky infinitesimal transforms on Monday.

This is a two part question. I will write out the second part tomorrow. I will be referring to pages 258-263 in Goldstein (1965) about infinitesimal transformations. Eqn 8-66 specifies that δu=ε[u,G], where u is a scalar function and G is the generator of the transform. How do I find the...

Thank you to everyone for your helpful comments. The calculation of the lifetime of positronium is described on p227 of JJ Sakurai's book on Advanced Quantum Mechanics. I didn't think that the volume per unit time of positron decays could be inverted to give the lifetime of a unit volume of...

Thank you mfb. I did not expect such a quick response. I am intrigued by the decay of positronium in the singlet spin state. Each of the constituents is a stable particle; yet this composite state decays into two gammas. We have an EM interaction between a particle and its anti particle--this...

The lifetime of Tritium is about 13 years. The lifetime of positronium is about one-tenth of a nanosecond. Can you point me to some papers or tell me how to calculate the lifetime of an unstable particle? For example, suppose I want to calculate the lifetime of the pion? Or muonium? Etc.

Mitchell and Haelfax, thank you for your responses. Your comments have raised physics questions in my mind and I need to think about this subject some more. I sure wish I had studied SU-3 and the strong interactions harder when I was in grad school.

A follow up question on the photino. I assume the photino travels at the speed of light. If that is true, why haven't we ever detected a photino? Could it be that only pure SUSY particles (not hybrids consisting of at least one quark and at least one square) produce photinos?

Thank you for your very quick response.