Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2009 / ia / Paper 4 / 10A / b

The two incoming particles have equal energies and opposite momenta, so their total four-momentum in this frame isIt is already a centre-of-momentum frame. By four-momentum conservation, the final spatial momenta sum to zero and their energies sum to $2E$. Each product has energySumming gives the necessary relativistic collision mass thresholdFor massive products the equality threshold has all of them at rest in this frame. Above it, multiple products can carry balancing momenta and relative kinetic energy. The displayed condition is necessary, as requested; a single final particle must instead have exactly the incoming invariant mass, and additional physical conservation laws could further restrict a real reaction.