Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-1-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2018/6/solution

Interpret the quoted muon energy as total relativistic energy, and neglect energy loss in the atmosphere. The Lorentz factor, speed and Earth-frame travel time are
The muon decay law is exponential in proper time. Equivalently, time dilation makes the Earth-frame mean lifetime . The exponential survival probability over the flight is
With and , the elapsed proper time is . Therefore
This uses the stated single incident energy and vertical trajectories. If the number were a kinetic energy, one would instead use ; the distinction is not silently absorbed into the rest energy.

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