https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04781-w
Regular Article
Propagation of angular momentum in charged pion decay and related processes
School of Physics, Hangzhou Normal University, 311121, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Received:
31
October
2023
Accepted:
8
December
2023
Published online:
21
December
2023
There are confusions about angular momentum propagation in scattering or decay processes involving the transition between particle systems that appear to transform differently under Lorentz transformations. This paper provides an analysis of the transformation properties of the states and interactions for a few typical processes within the standard model of particle physics, and performs explicit calculations showing how angular momentum transfers in these processes. We shall show explicitly (a) how a state with zero angular momentum evolves via interactions mediated by a single vector boson of spin one, and (b) that angular momentum conservation is completely consistent with the calculation in quantum field theory. A discussion is also given about the phenomenological consequences of the theoretical results obtained in this study.
© The Author(s) 2023
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