Past exam of the symmetry and relativity course of the University of Oxford / 2022 / 2 / c / Solution

In the center-of-momentum frame, four-momentum conservation gives two opposite photon momenta, each of energy $M_{\pi }/2$. Let $z=\cos {\theta }_{\ast }$, with the axis along the Lorentz boost from that frame to the laboratory. Reversing the axis specified in the source changes $z$ to $-z$ and has no effect on the following product. The Lorentz transformation of four-momentum givesWriting $s=\sin (A/2)$, b now impliesThe isotropy assumption is $dN=a|dz|$ on $-1\le z\le 1$. Each interior opening angle has two inverse branches, $z$ and $-z$, both of which must enter the change of variables for probability densities. The positive branch has derivativeConsequently the diphoton opening-angle distribution isIts support is $2\arcsin (1/\gamma )<A<\pi$ for $0<\beta <1$, and its integral is $2a$, the integral of the original angular probability density before normalization. Thus the normalized probability density is $(2a{)}^{-1}dN/dA$. Omitting one inverse branch would incorrectly halve the total count.