User interface language: English | Español

Date November 2014 Marks available 1 Reference code 14N.3.SL.TZ0.13
Level Standard level Paper Paper 3 Time zone Time zone 0
Command term State Question number 13 Adapted from N/A

Question

This question is about fundamental interactions and elementary particles.

The Feynman diagram represents the decay of a \({\pi ^ + }\) meson into an anti-muon and a muon neutrino.

Identify the type of fundamental interactions associated with the exchange particles in the table.

N14/4/PHYSI/SP3/ENG/TZ0/13.a.i

[2]
a.i.

State why \({\pi ^ + }\) mesons are not considered to be elementary particles.

[1]
a.ii.

Identify the exchange particle associated with this decay.

[1]
b.i.

Deduce that this decay conserves baryon number.

[2]
b.ii.

Markscheme

electromagnetic;

strong;

a.i.

they are composed of more than one quark;

a.ii.

\({W^ + }\);

b.i.

u has a baryon number of \(\frac{1}{3}\) and \({\rm{\bar d}}\) has a baryon number of \( - \frac{1}{3}\) ;

\({\mu ^ + }\) and \({v_\mu }\) both have a baryon number of 0;

b.ii.

Examiners report

(a)(i) was well answered.

a.i.

(a)(ii) was well answered.

a.ii.
[N/A]
b.i.

Most answers to (b)(ii) used quark baryon numbers of 1 etc, not \(\frac{1}{3}\).

b.ii.

Syllabus sections

Core » Topic 7: Atomic, nuclear and particle physics » 7.3 – The structure of matter
Show 96 related questions

View options