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    Particle Interactions 1 - A Level

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    Adebayo Walid
    The weak nuclear force is mediated by the exchange of W bosons between interacting particles such as in beta decay. The W boson is massive, so it can only exist briefly and has an extremely short range of about 0.001 fm. This allows the weak force to operate at the subatomic scale as required.

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    Particle Interactions 1 - A Level

    Uploaded by

    Adebayo Walid
    11 views16 pages
    The weak nuclear force is mediated by the exchange of W bosons between interacting particles such as in beta decay. The W boson is massive, so it can only exist briefly and has an extremely short range of about 0.001 fm. This allows the weak force to operate at the subatomic scale as required.

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    particle interactions 1 - A level

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    The weak nuclear force is mediated by the exchange of W bosons between interacting particles such as in beta decay. The W boson is massive, so it can only exist briefly and has an extremely short range of about 0.001 fm. This allows the weak force to operate at the subatomic scale as required.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    11 views16 pages

    Particle Interactions 1 - A Level

    Uploaded by

    Adebayo Walid
    The weak nuclear force is mediated by the exchange of W bosons between interacting particles such as in beta decay. The W boson is massive, so it can only exist briefly and has an extremely short range of about 0.001 fm. This allows the weak force to operate at the subatomic scale as required.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 16

    Title: Particle interactions 1

    • Describe what is meant by an interaction


    • Name different types of interaction
    • Explain what makes charged particles attract or repel each other
    • Describe an exchange particle
    Particles
    Particles
    Starter
    (2)
    (2)

    Calculate the minimum energy required in Joules required to


    produce:
    • A proton / antiproton pair.
    • An electron / anti electron pair.
    PET scanner
    • Positron emission tomography

    • The radioactive isotope emits


    positrons

    • These collide with electrons and


    annihilate – producing 2
    photons

    • These photons are detected by


    the scanner.
    Four fundamental interactions
    • Gravitational force – weakest but infinite range.
    • Electrostatic force – infinite but greater strength than gravity.
    • Strong nuclear force – only effective at subatomic level
    • Weak nuclear force – only effective at subatomic level,
    weaker than strong nuclear.

    Recap: Where have we Holds the nucleus together.


    already encountered the Attractive between 0.5-3 fm,
    strong nuclear force? repulsive at less than 0.5.
    What does it do? Ineffective at greater than 3 fm.
    Forces are caused by particle exchange
    Each of the four interactions has an exchange particle

    • EM force – virtual photon


    • Strong interaction – Pion
    • Weak interaction – W boson
    • Gravitational – Gravition (?)
    Feynmann diagrams

    • Simple diagrams to show the interactions of particles.


    • Includes exchange particles.
    • Shows the movement of the particles through space and time
    Feynman diagrams
    Rich is walking across the playground
    time towards the hall
    Rich sees Dave at the other side of
    the playground walking towards the
    hall
    Rich picks up a snowball and runs to
    Dave
    Rich throws the snowball really hard
    at Dave
    The snowball hits Dave and knocks
    him unconscious
    Rich runs away

    space
    Electrostatic repulsion
    time
    • A proton approaches a
    proton
    • Due to their like
    charges – the repel and
    move away from each
    other.
    • This happens due to
    the exchange of a
    virtual photon.

    space
    The virtual photon
    • Feynman worked out that the EM
    force between two charged objects
    is due to the exchange of virtual
    photons.

    + +

    undetectable!
    ES repulsion
    • Proton – proton (done)
    • Task: complete the Feynman
    diagrams for…
    • Electron – electron
    • Positron - positron
    The weak nuclear force

    • Explaining beta decay.


    • The job of the strong nuclear force is to hold the nucleus
    together.
    • The EM force isn’t responsible for beta decay as the neutron is
    uncharged.
    • Therefore, a force weaker than the strong force (in order to not
    cause chaos in the nucleus) must cause these interactions.
    Neutrinos and antineutrinos
    • Hardly interact with other particles except for:

    Charge is always
    conserved – the
    same before and
    after the
    interaction.

    When a proton meets an


    When a neutron meets a neutrino –
    antineutrino a neutron and a
    a proton and an electron are
    positron are produced
    produced.
    W boson

    • Non-zero mass. Creating one therefore takes so


    much energy that it can only exist for a short
    period of time.
    • Also means it has a very short range: about
    0.001 fm.
    • A virtual photon has zero mass so can act over
    infinite range.
    • W bosons are charged either W+ or W-

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