particleproduction

Particle production refers to processes that create new particles from energy, fields, or the decay of heavier states. In quantum field theory, energy can be converted into the rest mass of particles, subject to conservation of energy, momentum, angular momentum, and quantum numbers such as charge and flavor.

In high-energy physics, production occurs mainly in particle collisions or decays. Mechanisms include pair production, fragmentation and hadronization of quarks and gluons, and multiparticle production in energetic interactions. The probability of production is described by cross sections and event rates, which depend on coupling strengths and available phase space; a nonzero threshold energy is required to produce massive particles.

Theoretical frameworks include quantum electrodynamics for electromagnetic production, quantum chromodynamics for hadrons and jets, and the electroweak sector for W, Z, and Higgs bosons. Feynman diagrams illustrate channels, and calculations integrate over final-state phase space to predict cross sections and spectra.

In experiments, accelerators provide high-energy beams that collide to produce new particles. Detectors observe final-state particles, enabling measurements of cross sections, branching ratios, and momentum distributions. Backgrounds and systematics are addressed to enable discoveries and precision tests.

Common examples are Higgs boson production at the LHC, top quark pair production, and hadron production such as pions in proton-proton collisions. In astrophysics and cosmology, particle production occurs in the early universe and in cosmic-ray interactions, producing pions, muons, neutrinos, and gamma rays.