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Conservation of Parity


JaFojov

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1 hour ago, JaFojov said:

if one particle decays by two, if even parity is not conserved, will the parity of the final state be well defined?

Parity is always well defined for any particle or system of particles. OTOH, parity is an involution. This means that if you apply it twice, the state goes back to itself. This, in turn, implies that quantum mechanical particle states can be either even or odd under parity, and nothing else.

Given that parity is not conserved in Nature (not even parity, but parity as such), the final state could have but even or odd character under parity, but both are OK. I cannot be sure of what your mental framework is, or your level of acquaintance with the principles of quantum mechanics, but remember that several particles (think decay products) are not a sum of individual particle states, but a product. I have a feeling that's what's bothering you. Is it?

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