Difference between revisions of "Muon"
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The mass of muons is about 106 MeV/c<sup>2</sup>, making them about 207 times heavier than electrons. | The mass of muons is about 106 MeV/c<sup>2</sup>, making them about 207 times heavier than electrons. | ||
The particles have unit electric charge. Conventionally, muons (μ<sup>-</sup>) are considered to carry a negative charge, while their anti-matter counterparts (anti-muons or μ<sup>+</sup>) are positively charged. | The particles have unit electric charge. Conventionally, muons (μ<sup>-</sup>) are considered to carry a negative charge, while their anti-matter counterparts (anti-muons or μ<sup>+</sup>) are positively charged. | ||
| − | The weak interaction mediates the decay of muons. As weak processes | + | The weak interaction mediates the decay of muons. As weak processes can be considered ''slow'' for typical sub-atomic timescales, the muons exhibit a lifetime of about 2.2 μs. |
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
Revision as of 13:05, 10 April 2020
A muon (μ) is an elementary particle with unit electric charge and a mass of about 106 MeV/c2. Muons have a mean lifetime of about 2.2 μs and decay primarily into electrons and neutrinos.
Contents
Particle properties
Muons are elementary particles which interact graviationally, electromagnetically and weakly. The particles do not undergo strong interactions, owing to their half-integer spin. The mass of muons is about 106 MeV/c2, making them about 207 times heavier than electrons. The particles have unit electric charge. Conventionally, muons (μ-) are considered to carry a negative charge, while their anti-matter counterparts (anti-muons or μ+) are positively charged. The weak interaction mediates the decay of muons. As weak processes can be considered slow for typical sub-atomic timescales, the muons exhibit a lifetime of about 2.2 μs.
| Interactions | Gravity, Electromagnetic, Weak |
| Mass | 105.6583755(23) MeV/c2 |
| Mean lifetime | 2.1969811(22) x 10-6 s |
| Electric charge | 1 |
| Spin | 1/2 |
