next up previous
Next: Time Evolution Up: Phenomenology of the neutral Previous: Phenomenology of the neutral

Discrete Symmetries

The two discrete transformations and in the neutral kaon system are defined by:

where we remind that is an antiunitary tansformation. According to the theorem, the arbitrary phases , , , can be choosen in such a way that the interaction is invariant under transformation. We obtain the following conditions:

which are equivalent to equal masses and lifetimes for and . Assuming invariance of the interaction we obtain the following conditions:

which are equivalent to equal transition rates and . invariance in the neutral kaon system requires and invariance both to be fulfilled.



Thomas Ruf
Fri Aug 9 14:24:14 MET DST 1996