Is the weak force responsible for all radioactive decay, or just beta? If it is also responsible for alpha and gamma, how does it work? If not, what causes the other two?
(Also, related to this, I know that alpha radiation is two protons and two neutrons being expelled from the nucleus, and...
I believe the neutron decays with a half life around 12 minutes via the weak mechanism. I'm wondering what causes a particular neutron to decay. At the moment the neutron decays, has it encountered (run into) a stray weak field? Or ... does the neutron decay just because of internal forces...
can particles be "weak force" charge neutral?
In the standard model we have fermions of various electrical charges, including neutral. In some sense, we can consider right handed electrons as "weak force" neutral, however the mass term kind of "mixes" the left and right handed.
Is there...
I have been given the impression that the weak force is what holds the neutron together (preventing it from decaying to an electron and proton)
and that the neutron eventually decayed, despite this weak force, by 'tunneling out'
Is that right or am I way off?
I just read something about the creation of deuteron in the first step of the pp cycle. Given that you have the reaction: p + p -> d + e^+ + v_e, where e^+ is a positron and v_e is an electron neutrino. Since there is a neutrino present, it is a weak interaction. In addition, as the interaction...
The electromagnetic force is mediated by photons , which have 0 mass. so electromagnetic forces have infinite range. the weak force is mediated by three intermediate bosons, W+, W-and Z0 particles. these all have mass, the two W particles about 80GeV and the Z is about 90GeV.
the bit below is...
I don't have a formal education in physics so please excuse my ignorance. I had an idea and was wondering if as matter gets stretched and spun toward the event horizon is it possible that as it is consumed the weak force is repelled while everything else gets consumed? I hope that makes sense...
i can't seem to find any straightforward descriptions of it for why+when its needed. Plus I am really confused as to how they weighed the bosons if they only exist for less than a nanosecond. I am more interested in finding out how scientists figured out the bosons weight than anything
Homework Statement
What particle(s) does the weak force affect? I think it's electrons but my teacher thought it was quarks since the range of the weak force is <0.003 fm.
I could benefit from someone shedding some light on a couple of questions that I have regarding the speed of various entites:
1) It seems that the speed of gravity, e.g, if the sun disappeared, is the speed of light WRT things I've read. What is it that would inherently cause gravity to travel...