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Homework Help: Relativity questions

  1. Nov 23, 2006 #1
    An E baryon, travelling with an energy of 2 GeV, decays electromagnetically into a D baryon and a photon.

    Sketch how this decay might appear in the general case
    (i) in the lab frame
    E D
    A. Essentially I assume you will have ----> <
    (with the photon and D coming off that with a 90 degree angle between them.

    (ii) in the rest frame of the E baryon.

    Photon D
    ------> E <------ The photon approaching each other with equal and opposite momentum.

    What conditions are necessary for D to have maximum energy.

    A. D must have equal and opposite momenta to the photon.
  2. jcsd
  3. Nov 24, 2006 #2


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    I can't find any references for D baryons and E baryons. Do you have rest masses for these? I'm not seeing why there has to be a 90° angle in the lab frame. In the rest frame of the E Baryon the D baryon and the photon must have 180° angle between them.