Reference Frames and Transformations

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter describes the different options for defining the polarization frame in terms of physical directions in a real experiment.We explain how the observed anisotropy parameters of the decay distribution of a vector particle depend on the definition of the polarization frame and, in general, on the particle's laboratory momentum.We also discuss how the choice of the polarization frame, while in principle arbitrary, can have an impact on the immediate physical indications provided by the measurement, as well as, in some cases, on the very reliability of the analysis results.