Draw a quark-level Feynman diagram for the decay of a neutral kaon into two charged pions, \(K^{0} \rightarrow \pi^{+}+\pi^{-}\).

Short Answer

Expert verified
In the Feynman diagram for the decay of a neutral kaon into two charged pions, the W boson plays a crucial role in enabling the weak interaction. It allows the quarks to change their flavor, specifically, the down quark to become an up quark and the strange antiquark to become a down antiquark. The W boson mediates this interaction by being emitted by one quark and absorbed by another, ultimately resulting in the formation of the positive and negative pions.

Step by step solution

01

Identify the quark composition of the particles involved

In this decay process, we have three particles involved: a neutral kaon \(K^{0}\), a positive pion \(\pi^{+}\), and a negative pion \(\pi^{-}\). The quark compositions for these particles are as follows: - Neutral Kaon (\(K^{0}\)): \(d\bar{s}\) - Positive Pion (\(\pi^{+}\)): \(u\bar{d}\) - Negative Pion (\(\pi^{-}\)): \(d\bar{u}\)
02

Identify the interaction involved

In this decay process, the interaction involved is the weak interaction, as the quarks change their flavor from down-type to up-type and vice versa. We will represent this with a \(W\) boson, which is responsible for enabling the weak interaction in this case.
03

Draw the Feynman diagram

To draw the quark-level Feynman diagram for \(K^{0} \rightarrow \pi^{+}+\pi^{-}\), we need to represent the weak decay process at the quark level where a down quark (\(d\)) from the neutral kaon \(K^0\) changes into an up quark (\(u\)), while the strange antiquark (\(\bar{s}\)) from the same kaon changes into a down antiquark (\(\bar{d}\)). This is mediated by a \(W\) boson exchange. The final result will be the formation of positive and negative pions. The Feynman diagram will look like this: ``` W- d _______)_______ u K^0 π^+ ∧ | d\|/¯¯¯ W¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ s π^- ``` - The initial state is the neutral kaon \(K^{0}\), which is composed of a down quark (\(d\)) and a strange antiquark (\(\bar{s}\)). - The down quark (\(d\)) emits a \(W^{-}\) boson and becomes an up quark (\(u\)). The \(W^{-}\) boson travels downward and is absorbed by the strange antiquark (\(\bar{s}\)), turning it into a down antiquark (\(\bar{d}\)). - The final state consists of a positive pion (\(\pi^{+}\)), formed by an up quark (\(u\)) and a down antiquark (\(\bar{d}\)), and a negative pion (\(\pi^{-}\)), formed by a down quark (\(d\)) and an up antiquark (\(\bar{u}\)).

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