2.I.7C

Special Relativity
Part IB, 2008

A photon of energy EE collides with a particle of rest mass mm, which is at rest. The final state consists of a photon and a particle of rest mass M,M>mM, M>m. Show that the minimum value of EE for which it is possible for this reaction to take place is

Emin=M2m22mc2E_{\min }=\frac{M^{2}-m^{2}}{2 m} c^{2}