Chapter 33: Q9CQ (page 1210)
Theorists have had spectacular success in predicting previously unknown particles. Considering past theoretical triumphs, why should we bother to perform experiments?
Scientists bother to perform experiments to validate the theories and provide live proof for their theories.
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The decay mode of the negative muon is \({{\rm{\mu }}^{\rm{ - }}} \to {{\rm{e}}^{\rm{ - }}}{\rm{ + }}{{\rm{\bar \nu }}_{\rm{e}}}{\rm{ + }}{{\rm{\nu }}_{\rm{\mu }}}\). (a) Find the energy released in \({\rm{MeV}}\). (b) Verify that charge and lepton family numbers are conserved.
Discuss how we know that \[{\rm{\pi }}\]-mesons\[\left( {{{\rm{\pi }}^{\rm{ + }}}{\rm{,\pi ,}}{{\rm{\pi }}^{\rm{0}}}} \right)\]) are not fundamental particles and are not the basic carriers of the strong force.
(a) Show that the conjectured decay of the proton, \({\rm{p}} \to {\pi ^{\rm{0}}}{\rm{ + }}{{\rm{e}}^{\rm{ + }}}\), violates conservation of baryon number and conservation of lepton number.
(b) What is the analogous decay process for the antiproton?
(a) Calculate the relativistic quantity \(\gamma {\rm{ = }}\frac{{\rm{1}}}{{\sqrt {{\rm{1 - }}{{\rm{v}}^{\rm{2}}}{\rm{/}}{{\rm{c}}^{\rm{2}}}} }}\) for \({\rm{1}}{\rm{.00 - TeV}}\) protons produced at Fermilab.
(b) If such a proton created a \({\pi ^{\rm{ + }}}\) having the same speed, how long would its life be in the laboratory?
(c) How far could it travel in this time?
(a) Three quarks form a baryon. How many combinations of the six known quarks are there if all combinations are possible?
(b) This number is less than the number of known baryons. Explain why.
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