Quick question on Fermi Golden Rule

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
3 replies · 2K views
unscientific
Messages
1,728
Reaction score
13
Adopted from my lecture notes, found it a little fishy:

e7c84j.png


Shouldn't ##\frac{dp}{dE} = \frac{E}{p}## given that ##p = \sqrt{E^2 - m^2}##. Then the relation should be instead:

[tex]\frac{dp}{dE} = \frac{E}{p} = \frac{E}{\sqrt{E^2 - m^2}}[/tex]
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Yes, you are right but the problem tells you that B and C are massless. This means that the magnitude of their momenta is equal to their energies. In particular, conservation of energy tells you that ##E_B=E_C=E_A/2## and so ##p_B=p_C=E_A/2##, giving ##dp_B/dE=1/2##.
 
Einj said:
Yes, you are right but the problem tells you that B and C are massless. This means that the magnitude of their momenta is equal to their energies. In particular, conservation of energy tells you that ##E_B=E_C=E_A/2## and so ##p_B=p_C=E_A/2##, giving ##dp_B/dE=1/2##.
And I suppose ##c=1##?
 
Exactly.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: unscientific