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This is the form of the equation that is most commonly used to describe exponential decay. Any one of decay constant, mean lifetime, or half-life is sufficient to characterise the decay. The notation λ for the decay constant is a remnant of the usual notation for an eigenvalue.
Half-life (symbol t½) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable atoms survive. The term is also used more generally to characterize any type of exponential (or, rarely ...
t. e. In nuclear physics, beta decay (β-decay) is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits a beta particle (fast energetic electron or positron ), transforming into an isobar of that nuclide. For example, beta decay of a neutron transforms it into a proton by the emission of an electron accompanied by an antineutrino; or ...
Proton decay. The pattern of weak isospins, weak hypercharges, and color charges for particles in the Georgi–Glashow model. Here, a proton, consisting of two up quarks and a down, decays into a pion, consisting of an up and anti-up, and a positron, via an X boson with electric charge − 4 3 e. In particle physics, proton decay is a ...
the equation indicates that the decay constant λ has units of t −1, and can thus also be represented as 1/ τ, where τ is a characteristic time of the process called the time constant. In a radioactive decay process, this time constant is also the mean lifetime for decaying atoms.
Fermi's Theory was the first theoretical effort in describing nuclear decay rates for β decay. The interaction could also explain muon decay via a coupling of a muon, electron-antineutrino, muon-neutrino and electron, with the same fundamental strength of the interaction. This hypothesis was put forward by Gershtein and Zeldovich and is known ...
In particle physics, particle decay is the spontaneous process of one unstable subatomic particle transforming into multiple other particles. The particles created in this process (the final state) must each be less massive than the original, although the total mass of the system must be conserved. A particle is unstable if there is at least ...
v. t. e. Hawking radiation is the theoretical thermal black-body radiation released outside a black hole 's event horizon. This is counterintuitive because once ordinary electromagnetic radiation is inside the event horizon, it cannot escape. It is named after the physicist Stephen Hawking, who developed a theoretical argument for its existence ...