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Law of Conservation of Parity

It was originally assumed that parity must be conserved in all particle interactions, but it was demonstrated that parity does not have to be conserved in beta decay.

Parity is a rather subtle concept and has no classical analog. It is concerned with the behavior of wave function under space inversion. Two kinds of parity correspond to two different kinds of the quantum wave function for a particle.

  • Symmetric wave function. Wave functions for which the value at the point (-x, -y, -z) is the same as at the point (x, y, z) are symmetric wave functions.
  • Antisymmetric wave function. Wave functions for which the value at the point (-x, -y, -z) is minus the value at the point (x, y, z) are known as symmetric wave functions.
conservation of parity
Parity reversal is equivalent to a particle in a mirror. One effect of this is to reverse the spin of the particle.

A parity transformation (also called parity inversion) is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. This is equivalent to studying the mirror image of the original system. It was originally assumed that parity must be conserved in all particle interactions, but it was demonstrated that parity does not have to be conserved in beta decay.

It had been found that the kaon, K (positive or negative), could decay in two different ways, one that produced three pions, the other only two pions. To account for this anomaly, Lee and Yang (physicists who were awarded the Nobel prize in 1957) postulated that parity is not conserved in processes of this type. This interaction (the decay of kaon particle) is known as the weak interaction.

Another transformation not conserved by the weak interaction is charge conjugation, usually symbolized by the letter C. All the particles in a system are replaced by their corresponding antiparticles without making any other change.

 
References:
Nuclear and Reactor Physics:
  1. J. R. Lamarsh, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Theory, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1983).
  2. J. R. Lamarsh, A. J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN: 0-201-82498-1.
  3. W. M. Stacey, Nuclear Reactor Physics, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, ISBN: 0- 471-39127-1.
  4. Glasstone, Sesonske. Nuclear Reactor Engineering: Reactor Systems Engineering, Springer; 4th edition, 1994, ISBN: 978-0412985317
  5. W.S.C. Williams. Nuclear and Particle Physics. Clarendon Press; 1 edition, 1991, ISBN: 978-0198520467
  6. Kenneth S. Krane. Introductory Nuclear Physics, 3rd Edition, Wiley, 1987, ISBN: 978-0471805533
  7. G.R.Keepin. Physics of Nuclear Kinetics. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co; 1st edition, 1965
  8. Robert Reed Burn, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Operation, 1988.
  9. U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1 and 2. January 1993.

Advanced Reactor Physics:

  1. K. O. Ott, W. A. Bezella, Introductory Nuclear Reactor Statics, American Nuclear Society, Revised edition (1989), 1989, ISBN: 0-894-48033-2.
  2. K. O. Ott, R. J. Neuhold, Introductory Nuclear Reactor Dynamics, American Nuclear Society, 1985, ISBN: 0-894-48029-4.
  3. D. L. Hetrick, Dynamics of Nuclear Reactors, American Nuclear Society, 1993, ISBN: 0-894-48453-2. 
  4. E. E. Lewis, W. F. Miller, Computational Methods of Neutron Transport, American Nuclear Society, 1993, ISBN: 0-894-48452-4.

See above:

Law of Conservation