An example of a muon decay.

Performed in 1940 at Echo Lake and Denver in Colorado, the Rossi-Hall experiment measured the relativistic decay of mesotrons (mesons, they happened to be measuring muon decay) and found it to be in good agreement with the predictions of special relativity. A value for the muon lifetime was given as To=2.3 +/- .2 microseconds, which was later refined in 1943 by Rossi and Nereson to To=2.15 +/-.07 microseconds, which was still in excellent agreement with special relativity.

[edit] References

• Bruno Rossi & D. B. Hall, Physical Review, 59, 223 (1941).