Recent content by Soffie

I'm already aware that deep inelastic scattering, when an electron of high energy is scattered from a proton, shows us that the proton consists of point-like particles (quarks). However, what does elastic electron proton scattering tell us about the proton? Presumably elastic proton scattering...

So I'v been told that this interaction : e- + e+ = mu- + e+ isn't allowed. Why not? I thought maybe because the mass of the muon is so much bigger, so would violate energy conservation, but the electron/positron could be moving relativistically and thus have enough energy. Apparently the...

Ok, so how about this interaction as an example: e+ + e- = J/psi How do I tell just from the equation what interaction is responsible?

How do you know it's a strong interaction from the equation? (baryon no. only conserved if strong interaction) is it because quarks are involved? But in beta decay it involves quarks and leptons, and it's a weak decay. How do you distinguish interactions from one another?

I always struggle to know which force (strong nuclear, electromagnetic, weak, gravity) is responsible for an interaction. For example, pi+ + pi- = neutron + pi0 I would say its strong force responsible, because quarks are involved. But the pions are also charged, so how do I know it's not...

Ok so I've drawn some diagrams which may help solve the problem- I've oriented the axes so the tension is pointing up- what the bob looks like in its effective equilibrium position, and resolved the fictitious force and the weight in terms of the angle phi, which was the angle made due to the...

If a suspended pendulum bob is accelerated (in a car, for example), if you're in the accelerating frame of reference, you will observe the fictitious force which appears to act on the bob (as you're in the accelerating frame, the bob is not 'moving' so to speak, so to establish equilibrium you...

Oh I see, so if you were in the lepton's rest mass frame it would have K.E. 0, because energy and momentum are lorentz variant while the mass is not. So it isn't possible for the particle to decay into something with a greater rest mass. I think that's right?

Oh, so the rest mass of the lepton must be greater than the meson's rest mass? But what if the lepton is moving? Then its total energy will be greater (as it has Kinetic + rest mass energy) and this can be converted into a meson which may indeed be heavier when it decays

I presume they cannot as they are fundamental particles? But then a meson can decay into a lepton?