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How can elementary particles decay?

Answer 1

Most elementary particles can't decay.

Electrons, photons, and neutrinos are examples of elementary particles that do not decay.

The heavier composite particles do decay. The neutron decays with a half life of about #10# minutes.

The key question is whether or not the proton decays; the half life of such decay is estimated to be billions of years or more, and it has never been observed.

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Answer 2

Jordan Andrews

Elementary particles can decay through weak interactions, electromagnetic interactions, or strong interactions. Weak decays involve the exchange of W and Z bosons, electromagnetic decays occur through photon interactions, and strong decays involve the strong force mediated by gluons.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.