Relativistic collision mass threshold

ID: relativistic-collision-mass-threshold

If the total incoming four-momentum is timelike and has centre-of-momentum energy , production of particles with rest masses requires . In the centre-of-momentum frame, total final energy is a sum of , each at least its rest energy. For massive products equality occurs with all at rest in that frame. A single product requires equality of the entire invariant mass, not just an inequality; a massless product cannot have nonzero energy and be at rest.

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