JEE Advanced · 2012 · 08 Apr 2012 · Paper 2 · Modern Physics

The $\beta$-decay process, discovered around 1900, is basically the decay of a neutron $(n)$. In the laboratory, a proton $(p)$ and an electron $\left(e^{-}\right)$are observed as the decay products of the neutron. Therefore, considering the decay of a neutron as a two-body decay process, it was predicted theoretically that the kinetic energy of the electron should be a constant. But experimentally, it was observed that the electron kinetic energy has a continuous spectrum. Considering a three-body decay process, i.e. $n\to p+e^{-}+{\bar{v}}_e$, around 1930, Pauli explained the observed electron energy spectrum. Assuming the anti-neutrino $\left({\bar{v}}_e\right)$ to be massless and possessing negligible energy, and the neutron to be at rest, momentum and energy conservation principles are applied. From this calculation, the maximum kinetic energy of the electron is $0.8\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}$. The kinetic energy carried by the proton is only the recoil energy.

If the anti-neutrino had a mass of $3\mathrm{eV}/{\mathrm{c}}^2$ (where c is the speed of light) instead of zero mass, what should be the range of the kinetic energy, $K$, of the electron?