Regarding z0 interactions

[AdvaitDhingra]

If there are no flavor changing z0 weak interactions, how do we even know that the particle exists? I thought that we could only tell which particle was exchanged by the particles it decays into. Is this wrong?

 

[Orodruin]

How would the absence of flavour changing Z0 interactions preclude the knowledge of its existence? You will still see the decays to particle-antiparticle pairs just the same. The cleanest way of producing Z0 is to collide electrons with positrons at the Z0 resonance.

 

[AdvaitDhingra]

How would the absence of flavour changing Z0 interactions preclude the knowledge of its existence? You will still see the decays to particle-antiparticle pairs just the same. The cleanest way of producing Z0 is to collide electrons with positrons at the Z0 resonance.

Oh ok. So a z0 Boson interaction is one where charge is conserved? (since the z0 carries no charge)

 

[Vanadium 50]

Do you see a peak (Z) or not (no Z)?

 

[AdvaitDhingra]

Do you see a peak (Z) or not (no Z)?

View attachment 281475

Yeah

 

[mfb]

Charge is always conserved.

Flavor-changing Z interactions would allow e.g. electron plus antimuon to Z, or Z to these two particles. We don't observe that decay (experimental upper limit is ~10^-6), but of course we see the flavor-conserving electron+positron->Z production (that's what we can actually collide in colliders) and the equally flavor-conserving decays to quark plus matching antiquark.