Editorial use only. This image may not be used to state or imply endorsement by CERN of any product, activity or service Production and decay of tau l

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Editorial use only. This image may not be used to state or imply endorsement by CERN of any product, activity or service Production and decay of tau leptons. Electronic display of an electron-positron collision in the ALEPH detector at CERN, the particle physics lab near Geneva. The display shows a cross-section of the detector, with the beam tube in the centre (blue) surrounded by detector components (blue & red). The electron & positron, accelerated to high energy in CERN's LEP collider, annihilate at centre to create a Z particle which decays into a tau-plus & a tau-minus. The Z & the taus live too briefly to be seen, but the taus are revealed by their typical '3+3' decay into two back-to-back sets of three pions (coloured tracks). The tau is a lepton, a heavy version of the electron & muon.

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Size: 3500px × 3771px
Photo credit: © CERN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: aleph, bosons, cern, collider, computer, detector, display, electronic, force, force-carrying, gauge, high-energy, lep, nuclear, odyssey, particle, particles, physics, pionss, research, screen, subatomic, tau, weak