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A lepton is an elementary particle. The best known of all leptons is the electron which governs nearly all of chemistry as it is found in atoms and is directly tied to all chemical properties. The heavier muons and taus will rapidly change into electrons through a process of particle decay, Does it happen at high energies (heavier leptons decay)? So, It may be possible that electron decay in very low energies. |
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Fortunately, electrons don't decay at low energies :-) Decay rates don't depend on "energy", since particle decay can be studied from the center-of-mass reference frame of the decaying particle. In detail: if you calculate a decay rate, you can set the momentum of the decaying particle to zero (which is possible by a change of reference frame because leptons have a mass > 0). It is true that a relativistically moving particle seems to have a 'wrong' decay rate to an observer, because his clock doesn't match the muon's (or tau's) own wrist watch. This is the reason we can detect muons which are created high up in the atmosphere: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/relativ/muon.html |
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