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Chapter 6: Q6DQ (page 1519)

Why can’t an electron decay to two photons? To two neutrinos?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The electron cannot decay to two photons or two neutrinos as this would violate the conservation of charge.

Step by step solution

01

Determine why an electron cannot decay to two photons or two neutrinos

An electron has a charge of-ee=1.602×10-19 . Both the photons and neutrinos are charge less. Thus, in the process of decay of an electron into two photons or neutrinos cannot occur. This prohibition can also be explained in terms ofconservation of lepton number, conservation of spin and conservation of charge.

Therefore, the electron cannot decay to two photons and two neutrinos.

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