Can muons be stable?

The reason muons (and taus) decay while electrons do not decay is that there is no charged particle that is lighter than an electron. Actually muons (and taus) are relatively stable, compared to particles that have strong interactions.

Why is the electron stable and the muon is not?

But a muon is not in some sense an excited electron. Both particles are excitations in a quantum field and they are both as fundamental as each other. The electron is stable only because there is no combination of lighter particles that it could decay into while conserving the total charge of −e and total spin of 12.

Is a muon a stable particle?

It is classified as a lepton. As with other leptons, the muon is not known to have any sub-structure – that is, it is not thought to be composed of any simpler particles. The muon is an unstable subatomic particle with a mean lifetime of 2.2 μs, much longer than many other subatomic particles.

Can an atom have a muon instead of an electron?

Muonic hydrogen is an exotic hydrogen atom, where a muon (instead of an electron) orbits the proton. Because the muon is 200 times heavier than the electron, the muon’s orbit is 200 times closer to the proton in muonic hydrogen than that of the electron in regular hydrogen.

Are there atoms with muons?

Muonic atoms are atoms where a negative muon has been captured by the nucleus. Due to its 207 times higher mass compared to the electrons, the muon orbits the nucleus at a 207 times closer distance and experiences 207 times higher binding energies (neglecting in both cases the finite size of the nucleus).

What are muons made?

Muons are everywhere Muons have the same negative charge as electrons but 200 times the mass. They are made when high-energy particles called cosmic rays slam into atoms in Earth’s atmosphere. Travelling at close to the speed of light, muons shower Earth from all angles.

Are muon neutrinos stable?

Muon and tauon are unstable. In analogy the electron-“neutrino” should be stable and the muon- and tauon-“neutrino” unstable.

Are muons everywhere?

Muons are everywhere They are made when high-energy particles called cosmic rays slam into atoms in Earth’s atmosphere.

How stable is a muon?

Actually muons (and taus) are relatively stable, compared to particles that have strong interactions. Muons actually live long enough for an anti-muon and an electron to form an atom similar to hydrogen ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muonium ).

Why do muons decay but electrons do not?

The reason muons (and taus) decay while electrons do not decay is that there is no charged particle that is lighter than an electron. The muon is about 200 times heavier than an electron and by the rules of the weak nuclear force the muon can decay into electron and 2 neutrinos.

Why are muon and tau decay so slowly?

The muon and tau are unstable decaying with the weak interaction. The muon decays to electron and neutrinos, because its mass is too low to have an emergent pi0. The tau has high enough mass to decay into hadrons, again through the weak interaction.

What is the role of the muon in this atom?

In this atom, the muon acts as the nucleus. The positive muon, in this context, can be considered a pseudo-isotope of hydrogen with one ninth of the mass of the proton. Because the reduced mass of muonium, and hence its Bohr radius, is very close to that of hydrogen, this short-lived “atom” (or a muon and electron)…