captain
- 163
- 0
what does it mean when somebody says that a particle is on its mass shell? I have somewhat but not full understanding of that.
Understanding Particle Mass Shells
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 6K views
Discussion
- 25,837
- 258
captain said:
Ahoy there captain!
All real particles are on the mass shell.
Only pretend particles can be off-mass-shell … you use them in Feynman-type calculations, and then forget about them.
cosmik debris
- 734
- 172
A particle is on mass shell if E^2 = (pc)^2 + (mc^2)^2 holds. Virtual particles are off mass shell.