Detection of elementary particles

Old techniques

1) Nuclear emulsion
• A special type of photographic emulsion.
• Consists of gelatin with silver bromide (sensitive layer).
• “Latent images” are instantly formed when the charged particle like
-meson passes through it.
• The final images are developed by proper chemical treatment.
• It is like light falling on the conventional photographic film.
 The first decay K+ observed
in nuclear emulsion
by Brown and coworkers K

• The track of K+ is indicated by K.

• The meson goes from A to B,

where it stops and interacts with
a nucleus.

• The two mesons cause the

the tracks Aa and Ab.
2) Cloud chamber
• A gas-tight chamber (with piston) contains a mixture of a gas and
saturated vapor of a liquid.
• The piston is pulled back suddenly to allow the gas to expand.
• Temperature drops for short time interval.
• Vapor pressure drops and condensation occurs.
• There should be something to condense on like dust, not available.
• Droplets can be formed on the ions on the track of charged particle.
• Stereoscopic photographs taken for the tracks.

Book:
Elementary particles
by David H. Frisch and Alan M. Thorndike (1964)
3) Spark Chamber
• A series of parallel plates in a gas chamber.
• A high voltage is applied within the adjacent plates.
• Sparks occur along the path of an ionizing particle.
• These sparks are photographed.
• Voltage is applied within very short time 10-6 s after charged
particle has passed.
• Voltage is 10000 volts for a very short interval of time.
 A spark-chamber photograph

• Track 1 (from right)

enters , interacts 2

with p (polyethylene).
• is created, moves
slightly upwards,
decays to (track 2)
and (track 3).
• moves slightly ahead,
decays to proton (track 4)
and (track 5).
 Weak interaction involving strange particles

• To check for parity violation,

look for pseudo-scalar.

• Polarization:
Preferred orientation
• Let, spin of pointing
north.

• Observation:
Protons prefer coming out
north, and spin also.
• Mirror reflection is not
physical reality.

(check as it was done for beta

Decay) Parity breakdown
 CP Invariance in weak interaction
(example)

(a) Spin and emission

directions

(b) P-operation
(Mirror reflection,
horizontal perp.
to the plane)

(a) Rotation by 180

(b) C-operation
(changing particle
to anti-particle)
 Decay of charged Kaons

Wavefunction corresponding to a particle should have intrinsic parity.

 Parity is odd ( ) for mesons.
 Same charged Kaon can decay to either two pions or three pions.
(Originally this observation was thought as coming from two distinct
particles, called  -  puzzle).

 Parity non-conservation.

Decay of neutral Kaons

K 0 and K 0 (two distinct particles)
(major decay mode is through pions)

Relevant quantity is CP not strangeness.

Neither of them have a definite eigenvalue of CP
(discussion in tutorial session)
 It is possible to construct the two superposed states of K 0 and K 0 .

In phase superposition, called K S0 , eigenvalue of CP is +1.

0
Half wavelength out of phase superposition K L , eigenvalue of CP is -1.

For the strong interaction, the relevant forms of Kaons are K 0 and K 0 .
0 0
For the weak interaction, the relevant forms of Kaons are K S and K L .

The relationship between the alternative views has a close analogue in

optics

If two plane polarized light waves are superimposed with definite phase
relationships, then left-handed or right-handed circularly polarized light
is produced

Note: Plane polarized light waves can also be produced by the left-
handed and right-handed circularly polarized light waves.
 If CP is to be conserved,
K S0 decay must occur through two pions (e.g. 2 ) which has CP of +1
K L0 decay must occur through three pions (e.g. 3 ) which has CP of -1

Subscripts S and L refer to the short and long life times of the decay.

J. W. Cronin et al. observed in 1964 that a very few K 0 mesons decayed

into 2 after a flight path of 5.7 feet from production.
As the K S0 lifetime is short, almost all K S0 should have decayed within
centimeters from production.
0
 Kaon beam at 5.7 feet from production should consist purely of K L

Observation of 2 decay means that CP is violated in the decay of K L0

The branching ratio: K L0    0

R  2  103
K L0  all
 Oscillation in Probability

The neutral K meson states K 0 and K 0 can be expressed in terms of

states K L0 and K S0 :
K0 
1
2
 K 0
L  K S0 ,
K0 
1
2
 K 0
L  K S0 
K L0 and K S0 are states with definite lifetimes  L  1 and  S  1 ,
2 2
and distinct rest energies m Lc  m S c . L S

0
At time t = 0, a meson is produced in the state  ( t  0  K

Let the probability of finding the system in the state K 0 at time t be

P0 ( t ) and that of finding the system in state K 0 at time t be P0 ( t ) .

Show that
P0 ( t )  P0 ( t )  e  ( L   S )t /2 cos[( m L  m S )t ] (Neglect CP violation)
(discussion in the tutorial session)
 Neutrino Oscillations

Three types, called flavours, of neutrinos ( e ,  and   )

(distinguished by the reactions in which they are created)
Speculation of finite rest masses, possibly different for each type.

 Suppose there is a small perturbing interaction between the neutrinos.

 Let the matrix element of this perturbation have the same real value 
between each pair of neutrino types.
 Let it have zero expectation value in each of the states ( e ,  and   )
 0   
    a1 ( t )  e  a2 ( t )    a3 ( t )  
H '    0  
   0 


 Let at t = 0, a neutrino of type  e is produced.

Find that probability of finding the neutrino in each of the other state at
later time t.
 Time dependent Schrӧdinger equation
 a1   0 1 1   a1 
    
i   a2      1 0 1   a2  ----------- (1)
t    1 1 0 a 
a
 3   3 
gives
ia1   (a2  a3 ),
i (a 3  a 2 )   (a3  a2 )
ia 2   (a1  a3 ), 
or, a3 ( t )  a2 (t)  Ae i t
ia 3   (a1  a2 ).

After putting the initial condition, at t = 0 a2 (0)  a3 (0)  0, a2  a3 ,

above equations give
ia1  2 a2
ia 2   (a1  a2 )

Eliminating a1 again, we have

------------ (2)
a2  i a 2  2 2a2  0

From eq. (2)
a2 ( t )  A1e i t  A2e 2 i t
------------- (3)
At time t = 0, a2 (0)  0 giving A1  A2  0, a2  A1 (e i t  e  i 2 t )

Hence a1   i 2 A1 ( e i t  e  i 2 t )
a1  2 A1 (  e i t  e  i 2 t ) ------------- (4)

Initially only  e is present, so a1 (0)  1

1 1
Thus A1   , and a2  a3  (  e i t  e  i 2 t ) ------------ (5)
3 3
The probability that at time t the neutrino is in  e or  

   P     a
P  2
2 1
 (  e i t  e  i 2 t )(  e  i t  e i 2 t )
9
2
 [1  cos(3 t )]
9
 The oscillation between different eigenstates is intimately related to the
finite mass of the particle ?

Simple explanation is given by the relativity principle.

 Consider the spontaneous decay of a Kaon moving with a velocity v.

 Let the decay time be  P , called proper time, measured by its internal
clock.

 The decay time be  M measured by a laboratory person will be

1
 M    P;  
2
1 v
c2
 If Kaon velocity is very large (say, c), which corresponds to the negligible
mass, the observer will never observe its decay.
 No change in Kaon is observed.
 Observation of change implies the finite mass.
 Nobel prize in Physics 2015
Experimental discovery that neutrino switch between flavours
Finite mass of the neutrino

Prof. Arthur McDonald Prof. Takaaki Kajita

Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Super-Kamiokande detector
(Canada) beneath Japan’s Mount Kamioka