JEE Advanced 2012Paper 2
- Exam
- JEE Advanced
- Year
- 2012
- Paper
- Paper 2
- Subject
- Physics
- Chapter
- Nuclear Physics
JEE Advanced 2012 · Paper 2 · Physics · Nuclear Physics
The β -decay process, discovered around 1900 , is basically the...
The -decay process, discovered around 1900 , is basically the decay of a neutron . In the laboratory, a proton and an electron are observed as the decay products of the neutron. Therefore, considering the decay of a neutron as a two-body decay process, it was predicted theoretically that the kinetic energy of the electron should be a constant. But experimentally, it was observed that the electron kinetic energy has continuous spectrum. Considering a three-body decay process, i.e.
, around 1930, Pauli explained the observed electron energy spectrum. Assuming the anti-neutrino to be massless and possessing negligible energy, and the neutron to be at rest, momentum and energy conservation principles are applied. From this calculation, the maximum kinetic energy of the electron is . The kinetic energy carried by the proton is only the recoil energy.
Question: What is the maximum energy of the anti-neutrino?
Options
- AZero
- BMuch less than .
- CNearly
- DMuch larger than
Correct answer
C. Nearly
Step-by-step solution
When then
Mass of maximum energy of anti-neutrino is nearly .