one of the four known fundamental forces of nature and the one responsible for beta-decay radioactivity. The weak interaction is very short-ranged and more weakly coupled than either the strong nuclear force or electromagnetism. At energy scales above the Z mass the weak and electromagnetic ...
9
votes
2answers
2k views
How come neutrons in a nucleus don't decay?
I know outside a nucleus, neutrons are unstable and they have half life of about 15 minutes. But when they are together with protons inside the nucleus, they are stable. How does that happen?
I got ...
13
votes
2answers
393 views
Why is the (free) neutron lifetime so long?
A neutron outside the nucleus lives for about 15 minutes and decays mainly through weak decays (beta decay). Many other weakly decaying particles decay with lifetimes between $10^{-10}$ and $10^{-12}$ ...
3
votes
3answers
468 views
Energy of the electron-muon reaction
Lets see the reaction:
$e^- \mu^- \to e^- \pi^- \nu_\mu \;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\; {(1)}$
I suppose, that this reaction occurs as follows
$e^- \mu^- \to e^- \mu^- \pi^+ \pi^- \to e^- \pi^- \nu_\mu$
Is ...
0
votes
0answers
110 views
Weak isospin and types of weak charge
My understanding is that QCD has three color charges that are conserved as a result of global SU(3) invariance. What about SU(2) weak? Does it have two types of charges? What I'm getting at is:
U(1) ...
8
votes
1answer
368 views
Do color-neutral gluons exist?
If I'm correct a quark can change color by emitting a gluon. For example a blue up quark $u_b$ can change into a red up quark by emitting a gluon:
$$u_b \longrightarrow u_r + g_{b\overline{r}}$$
...
2
votes
0answers
148 views
Can the mass of longitudinal and transverse W bosons be measured separately?
Some higgsless unified models of particle physics predict that the mass of longitudinally polarized W bosons and the mass of transversely polarized W bosons are different.
In those models, a ...
