Aim: to determine the rest mass and lifetime of a neutral
particle, the kaon (K0), by studying its decay products a
π+, π- pair
and its decay length; distance travelled by the K0
from creation to decay.
The electron and positron annihilate to form a K0
(yellow ball), and a JET of particles such as pions (grey wedge). You can assume that the JET
and the K0 each have a total energy equal to the Incident beam energy. The
K0 travels in a straight line and leaves no track because it has zero
electrical charge. After a period of time, usually short, the K0
decays
into a π+, π-
pair (green and blue balls) its position of decay indicated
by the white 'ghost' ball. The charged pion pair are affected by the
uniform magnetic field, coming out of the screen, and follow curved
trajectories.
As with the charged particle
pairs in the previous exercise the K0
has no preferred direction of motion.
Likewise the JET has no preferred direction, however, relative to the
kaon it always points in the opposite direction in order to conserve
momentum. Notice also that as the beam energy is increased the angular
spread of the JET decreases.
Conservation of momentum causes the pions to be
created travelling in the same general direction as the K0
was before it decayed. The pions also follow trajectories with
different radii on each new firing sequence, since they have different
momenta on each decay.
Despite changing on each firing sequence, the form of the pion
trajectories fall into two main categories. Their tracks either, initially
diverge before coming back on themselves and crossing, or they diverge and
never cross (see Figure below). This is a consequence of the initial
orientation of the π+, π-
pair, at creation.
|