Stuck with Kaon Decay: Finding Ek of Pions

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the decay of a neutral kaon at rest into two pions, specifically focusing on determining the kinetic energies of the resulting pions given their rest masses and the kaon's rest mass. Participants express uncertainty about how to approach the problem without knowing the velocities of the pions.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Conceptual clarification

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants suggest using conservation of energy and momentum to analyze the decay process. There are discussions about the relationships between momentum and kinetic energy in relativistic dynamics, as well as the need to write down conservation equations.

Discussion Status

The conversation is ongoing, with participants exploring various equations and concepts related to relativistic energy and momentum. Some guidance has been provided regarding the conservation equations, and there is recognition of the need to consider both energy and momentum in the analysis.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the initial conditions of the kaon being at rest, which implies that the initial momentum is zero. There is also discussion about the implications of the pions having equal masses and how that affects their kinetic energies and gamma factors.

  • #31
so T=(Ekaon-2Eo(pi))/2=109.25MeV?
 
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  • #32
Correct, how many gammas and speeds did we have to calculate to arrive at this result?
 
  • #33
yes sorry, i apologize for my stupid behavior, thanks very much, you are very good at explaining things = )
 
  • #34
can i ask, if i have another similar qstn about a particle m that decays to m1 and m2 and given p1 and p2, and asked to find initial m and initial v... can i use the same process but this time using momentum conservation?
 
  • #35
You're welcome and no need to apologize. I would suggest you teach yourself a solid problem solving method however. Always list all the variables, knowns and unknowns then use the appropriate equations. Try to find relations between the variables and eliminate them one by one. Also don't make it harder than it has to be, for example you can write T or (\gamma-1)mc^2. Since they ask for T here don't write it out, it will only complicate things.
 
  • #36
fredrick08 said:
can i ask, if i have another similar qstn about a particle m that decays to m1 and m2 and given p1 and p2, and asked to find initial m and initial v... can i use the same process but this time using momentum conservation?

You will have to use both conservation of momentum and conservation of energy again.
 
  • #37
ok thankyou = )
 

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