How Do Mesons Decay?

All mesons are unstable, with the longest-lived lasting for only a few hundredths of a microsecond. Heavier mesons decay to lighter mesons and ultimately to stable electrons, neutrinos and photons. ... Mesons are part of the hadron particle family, which are defined simply as particles composed of two or more quarks.

Why do mesons decay?

Mesons, for example the pion, decay because they are made from a quark and an antiquark. Particles and anti-particles don't get on very well, so as with an electron meeting a positron, they quickly annihilate or decay.

Do mesons decay into protons?

All mesons eventually decay to photons, leptons and (rare) baryons, with only stable particles (proton, bound neutron, photon, electron, all 3 neutrino types and their antiparticles) in the final state.