Learning Objective:

What laws need to be

conserved?
Learning Outcomes
•State the name of the four fundamental
interactions. (D)

•Use the laws of conservation (charge, baryan,

lepton) to show if a particle interacyion can
happen. (D-C)

•Describe how relativistic increase in particle

lifetime is significant. (C-B)
 01/11/22

Key Words

•Nuclear decay
•Baryon number
•Lepton number
•Strangeness
There are four fundamental forces
(interactions) altogether.

What are they?

Strong
Weak
Electromagnetic
Gravity
• Gravitational: weakest, but has infinite range. An
attractive force that affects all matter.
• Electromagnetic: Acts over an infinite range and
keeps atoms and molecules together. It is
responsible for the chemical, mechanical and
electrical properties of matter.
• Weak: weaker than the electromagnetic interaction
but stronger than gravity. Its range does not extend
beyond the nucleus. It is responsible for  decay and
fusion reactions in stars.
• Strong: strongest force but very short range (only
between neighbouring nucleons). It keeps the
nucleons together.
Physicists think that all
forces are caused by the
exchange of particles.

The electromagnetic force is caused

by the exchange of virtual photons.

Two negatively charged electrons will

exchange these virtual photons
and push each other apart.

Virtual particles only exist for a very short time.

They are sometimes called gauge bosons.
repulsion

attraction
β- Decay
In β- decay. a neutron in the nucleus decays (turns)
into a proton, a fast moving electron (-particle) and
an anti-neutrino e

Describe this process using nuclear notation.


n  p  e  e
β- Decay

Note: The direction of

the lines does not
show the direction of
the particles

• BEFORE: A neutron.

• DURING: The neutron decays into a proton and a W - boson.

• AFTER: The W- boson decays to a beta-minus particle (an electron) and an anti-neutrino.
β- Decay

Notes:
A Feynman diagram is a space
against time diagram.

The interaction is shown by a line

going upwards at a diagonal – you
can only go forwards in time.

The arrow for an anti-particle

NB: you don’t need to know points towards the interaction.
how to draw or interpret
Feynman diagrams
β+ Decay
In β+ decay, a proton in the nucleus decays (turns) into
a neutron, a fast moving positron (e+ particle) and a
neutrino e

Describe this process using nuclear notation.


p  n  e  e
β+ Decay
• BEFORE: A proton.
• DURING: The proton decays into a neutron and a W+
boson.
• AFTER: The W+ boson decays to a beta-plus (positron)
particle and a neutrino.
n

p
Conserving properties
•As previously mentioned, mass/energy,
momentum and charge need to be conserved
in particle interactions.
•Other properties that need to be conserved
are Baryon number and Lepton number…
•…And to complicate things a little;
strangeness needs to be conserved – but not
all the time 🙄
Charge conservation
•This one is quite simple, look at both sides of
the interaction equation and make sure charge
is the same on both sides – overall charge so
consider positive and negative charges!
EG.
Decay energy discrepancy?
•In alpha decay, the particles have the same
energy/mass from the same nuclear change
(meaning they have the same kinetic energy)

•This doesn’t happen with beta decay, the

reason for this is a neutrino or antineutrino is
also produced. The total mass/energy is the
same but the kinetic energy will have different
amounts shared between beta and neutrino
particles.
Baryon and Lepton numbers
•If an interaction happens, baryon and lepton
numbers must balance on both sides of the
equation.
•A quark has a baryon number of 1/3 and
lepton number 0
•A lepton has a lepton number of +1 and
baryon number of 0
•Anti quarks and leptons have the same
numbers as above but negative
Baryon and lepton examples

•Can the following interactions happen?

*see textbook page 109 for tables of properties

Strangeness
•One other number that needs to be
considered is strangeness number
•Only hadrons with strange quarks will have a
strangeness number-
Strange quark = strangeness of -1
Anti-strange quark = strangeness of +1

•Only strong and electromagnetic force interactions

need to conserve strangeness
ie. Weak interactions don’t need to conserve
strangeness
Time flies when you’re having fun!
•When an object moves close to the speed of
light we have previously talked about an
apparent increase in mass

•Something strange also happens with time.

For an object moving at these speeds time
goes slower for them than that of an observer.
This is known as relativistic speed/lifetime
Relativistic lifetime
•Muons produced from interactions of cosmic
rays and atoms high in the atmosphere have
very short lifetimes (about 2𝝁s).

•This means they shouldn’t be detectable at

sea level as they should have decayed in the
time it takes to travel that far.
However, they are found in surprisingly large
numbers as they fall around 98% c.
At these speeds we, as external observers see
their life
Relativistic lifetime
At these speeds we, as external observers see
their lifetime as being longer; for the muons
their lifetime is still about 2𝝁s – this is how they
can travel so far in such a short time.

This principal helps detect particles produced

in particle accelerators also. This allows
additional interactions of particles and also
makes new particles easier to detect as they
appear to ‘live’ longer and travel further before
they decay.