https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-009-1107-y
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Angular momentum non-conserving decays in isotropic media
1
Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, University of Puerto Rico, P.O. Box 23343, Río Piedras, 00931-3343, Puerto Rico
2
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF Bidhan-Nagar, Calcutta, 700064, India
* e-mail: pbpal@theory.saha.ernet.in
Received:
4
June
2009
Published online:
28
July
2009
Various processes that are forbidden in vacuum due to angular momentum conservation can occur in a medium that is isotropic and does not carry any angular momentum. We illustrate this by considering explicitly two examples. The first one is the decay of a spin-0 particle into a photon and another spin-0 particle, using a model involving the Yukawa interactions of the scalar particles with a charged fermion field. The second one involves the decay of a neutrino into another neutrino and a graviton, in the standard model of particle interactions augmented with the linearized gravitational couplings.
© Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica, 2009