Past exam of the nuclear and particle physics course of the University of Oxford / 2022 / 1 / d / Solution

For a narrow unstable state, the effective Hamiltonian has the complex eigenvalue $m_j-i{\Gamma }_j/2$. With natural units and ${\Gamma }_j=1/{\tau }_j$, its Schrödinger equation givesThe first factor is the ordinary energy phase; squaring the second gives the exponential decay of the survival probability, $e^{-t/{\tau }_j}$. This assumes the approximately constant decay rate regime; exact very early and very late behavior need not be exponential.

Writing the surviving state as $A_S(t)|K_S⟩+A_L(t)|K_L⟩$, invert the two kaon CP eigenstates definitions:Here $t$ is the proper time. For a relativistic beam of fixed Lorentz factor $\gamma$, substitute $t=t_{\mathrm{lab}}/\gamma$; in ordinary units the mass phase is $m_j{c}^{2}t/\hslash$.