Decay of Heavy Bosons

Abstract

The properties of the decays of all heavy bosons of zero strangeness, angular momenta ≤2, and isospin ≤1 are analyzed. First, we describe the symmetry characteristics of $N$-pion states (for $N<~5$) with respect to permutations in isospin and momentum space. Secondly, we give the strong, first-order (with emission of a real photon), and second-order electromagnetic decays together with the nonrelativistic and extreme relativistic barrier factors for each initial spin, parity, and $G$ parity. These barrier effects (together with the amount of phase space available) are important in determining relative decay rates. Finally, we present the matrix elements for strong and electromagnetic decays into 4 or fewer pions. All results are summarized in tabular form.