Answer THREE questions

Mark Allocation
The numbers in square brackets in the right-hand margin indicate the provisional allo-
cation of maximum marks per sub-section of a question.

Units, Masses and Other Values

The convention: h̄ = c = 1 will be used throughout this paper.
The values for the following quantities may be assumed in this paper.

Meaning Value
Masses of u,d,s,c,b,t quarks 1 MeV, 2 MeV, 0.2 GeV, 1.5 GeV, 4.5 GeV, 172 GeV
Masses of e,µ,τ leptons 0.5 MeV, 106 MeV, 1.8 GeV
Mass of all neutrinos 0
Mass of the π + 140 MeV
Mass of Z boson (MZ ) 91 GeV
Mass of W boson (MW ) 80 GeV
Fermi Weak Decay Constant (GF ) 1.11 × 10−5 GeV−2

CKM Matrix
   
|Vud | |Vus | |Vub | 0.974 0.227 0.004
 |Vcd | |Vcs | |Vcb |  =  0.227 0.973 0.042 
   

|Vtd | |Vts | |Vtb | 0.008 0.042 0.999

where Vij is the factor for interactions involving quarks i and j.
Dirac Matrices
The Dirac γ matrices satisfy γ µ γ ν + γ ν γ µ = 2g µν (for µ, ν = 0,1,2,3) and are defined as:
! ! !
I 0 0 σi 0 I
γ0 = γ i=1,2,3 = γ 5 = iγ 0 γ 1 γ 2 γ 3 =
0 −I −σi 0 I 0

And the Pauli spin matrices, σi , are:

! ! !
0 1 0 −i 1 0
σ1 = , σ2 = , σ3 =
1 0 i 0 0 −1

which satisfy: (~σ · ~a)(~σ · ~c) = ~a · ~c + i~σ · (~a × ~c) for 3 component vectors ~a, ~c.

Lorentz Transformation
! ! !
p0 γ −βγ p
=
E0 −βγ γ E

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 [Part marks]

1. (a) Draw the lowest-order Feynman diagram for the decay: n → pe− ν¯e . Write
down the factors at each interaction vertex. [4]
(b) What is the kinematic configuration that maximises the energy of the electron
produced in the decay? [2]
(c) Assuming the mass of the neutrino can be neglected show that the maximum
energy of the electron, Ee is given by:

m2n − m2p + m2e

Ee =
2mn
where mn , mp and me are the masses of the neutron, proton and electron
respectively. [8]
(d) When a similar process occurs for a neutron bound in an atomic nuclei it
is called radioactive beta-decay. Explain with the aid of a sketch how the
distribution of electron energies implied the existence of the neutrino. [3]
(e) How could one attempt to measure the absolute mass of the neutrino using
tritium which has a beta-decay with an endpoint energy of 18.6 keV? [3]

PHASM442/2012 CONTINUED

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 [Part marks]

2. The positive energy spinor solutions to the Dirac equation, u0,1 , are defined as:

χ0,1
! ! !
0,1
q
0 1 1 0
u = |E| + m 
σ ·~
~ p
 where χ = and χ =
E+m
χ0,1 0 1

and the negative energy solutions, v 0,1 , by:

 
σ ·~
! ! !
~ p
0,1
q
φ0,1 0 0 1 1
v = |E| + m E−m where φ = and φ =
φ 0,1 1 0

(a) The charge conjugation spinor of ψ, ψC , is defined by:

ψC = iγ 2 ψ ∗

Use the explicit form of the Pauli matrices to show that the charge conjugate
spinor of u0 is the same as v 0 , with E → −E and p~ → −~p. Explain the
significance of this result. [8]
(b) The left-handed state for a particle is defined by the projection:

uL = 21 (1 − γ 5 )u
and the right-handed by
uR = 21 (1 + γ 5 )u
Show that uL = u 21 (1 + γ 5 ). [4]
(c) Show that uγ µ u = uL γ µ uL + uR γ µ uR and interpret the significance of this
result for electromagnetic interactions. [4]
(d) Show that u 12 γ µ
(1 − γ 5 ) u = uL γ µ uL and interpret the significance of this
result for weak interactions. [4]

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 [Part marks]

3. (a) Draw the dominant Feynman diagram for the production and subsequent
decay of a 126 GeV Higgs boson from a proton-proton collision at the LHC. [3]
(b) Draw the Feynman diagrams for the two most significant background pro-
cesses which will produce the same final state particles as the process listed
above. Briefly explain why the rate of these processes is much higher than
the process in (a) and discuss what other problems there would be using this
channel to discover the Higgs boson at the LHC. [4]
(c) At 126 GeV one of the most promising Higgs decay modes for a potential dis-
covery is the h → γγ channel. Explain how it is possible for the Higgs particle
to decay to two photons drawing the two dominant Feynman diagrams. [3]
(d) Draw a sketch of a generic collider detector, such as the ATLAS detector at
the LHC. Label the main components of the detector. [4]
(e) In the ATLAS detector what would be the experimental signatures of the
decay of a 126 GeV Higgs boson via the processes h → γγ and h → τ + τ − ? [4]
(f) Draw a Feynman diagram for a process that could be studied at the LHC
to understand the electroweak symmetry breaking, if there is no Higgs boson
found at the LHC. [2]

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 [Part marks]

4. (a) Explain what is meant by the procedure of renormalisation and describe the
problem it solves. [2]
(b) Give three pieces of experimental information that support the existence of
the QCD colour charge. [3]
(c) The coupling constants of QED and QCD have a different dependence on the
momentum-transfer of the process. Draw the two simplest Feynman diagrams
that are responsible for screening and anti-screening the colour charge of the
quark in order to explain this difference between QED and QCD. [3]
0 − + 0 − +
(d) Draw the Feynman diagrams for the decays: D → K π ; D → π π and
D0 → K + π − . [3]
(e) Ignoring phase space and form factors, estimate the relative rates of these
three decay modes. [3]
√
(f) At an e+ e− collider at s = 5 GeV, estimate the ratio of the number of
interactions which produce hadrons compared with the number that produce
µ+ µ− . [3]
(g) Sketch the behaviour of this ratio over the energy range 5-120 GeV. [3]
The quark content of the mesons is: K + = us̄ ; K − = ūs; D0 = cū; π + = ud¯ and
π − = ūd.

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 [Part marks]

5. A monochromatic beam of 10 GeV π + is created. The pions decay in flight to

produce a long-baseline neutrino beam.

(a) Explain why the decay π + → µ+ νµ is dominant in comparison to the decay

π + → e+ νe , despite the latter decay being energetically favoured by phase
space considerations. [3]
+
(b) Show that, in the rest frame of the π , the energy of the neutrino, Eν∗ , is:

m2π − m2µ
Eν∗ =
2mπ
and find the value of Eν∗ . [5]
Eπ
(c) Calculate the Lorentz factor of the pion in the lab frame, γπ = mπ
. Use this
to calculate the maximum energy of a neutrino at a distant detector which is
in the direction of the beam. [6]
(d) By considering the Lorentz transformations parallel and perpendicular to the
pion direction, show that the maximum neutrino energy observable by a de-
tector at an angle, θ, to the beam direction is:
Eν ∗
Eν =
γ (1 − β cos θ)

Evaluate the maximum energy of a neutrino observable by a distant detector

located at 1 degree to the beam axis. [6]

PHASM442/2012 END OF PAPER