Calculation on the Lifetime of Polarized Muons in Flight

Abstract

The fermion lifetime was usually calculated in terms of spin states. However, after comparing spin states with helicity states and chirality states, it is pointed out that a spin state is helicity degenerate, and so it can not be used for discussion of the dependence of lifetime on the polarization of an initial-state fermion. Using helicity states, we calculate the lifetime of polarized muons. The result shows that the lifetime of right-handed polarized muons is always greater than that of left-handed polarized muons with the same speed in flight.

Comments: 12 pages, no figures, Latex