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As far as I understand, electrons are infinitely stable since they are the least massive particle with non-zero electric charge. However, when accelerated to high-energies, the energy (or mass) of the electrons increases. Does this mean that at sufficient energies it is possible for these electrons to decay (e.g. into a muon, muon antineutrino, and electron neutrino) without scattering off any other particles?

DaYu1729
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1 Answers1

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Particle interactions, including decays, must always satisfy energy and momentum conservation in all reference frames. This means that high-energy electrons in an accelerator don't count; to the other electrons traveling down the accelerator with them, everyone is relatively at rest.

An interesting counterexample involves a hard-to-escape reference frame.

rob
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