Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/6/c/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics major option course of the University of Oxford 2016 6 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Evaluate the two-body Lorentz-invariant phase space in the parent's rest frame, . The spatial Dirac delta function sets . For massless daughters , soThe factor in the last step is the derivative of the delta-function argument. Substituting into the decay width gives, for labelled or distinct daughters,The angular domain is one sphere: and , equivalently . The printed negative-to-positive polar-angle interval is not a second independent coverage of the sphere.
For identical daughters, integration over the full labelled two-body phase space counts each physical final state twice. One must therefore include an additional factor , or equivalently integrate over an unordered half-domain. This distinction is necessary for the two identical photons in solution.
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