In particle physics, the available energy is the energy in a particle collision available to produce new matter from the kinetic energy of the colliding particles. Since the conservation of momentum must be held, a system of two particles with a net momentum may not convert all their kinetic energy into mass - and thus the available energy is always less than or equal to the kinetic energy of the colliding particles. The available energy for a system of one stationary particle and one moving particle is defined as:

$E\_a\; =\; sqrt\{2\; m\_t\; c^2\; E\_m\; +\; (m\_t\; c^2)^2\; +\; (m\_k\; c^2)^2\}$

where

$m\_t$ is the mass of the stationary target particle,

$m\_k$ is the mass of the moving particle,

$E\_m$ is the kinetic energy of the moving particle, and

$c$ is the speed of light.

See also

• Threshold energy
• Matter creation

References

External links