Explain what is meant by the intrinsic parity of a particle.

In each of the decay processes below, parity is conserved.

A deuteron $\left(d^{+}\right)$has intrinsic parity $\eta_{d}=+1$ and spin $s=1$. A negatively charged pion $\left(\pi^{-}\right)$has spin $s=0$. The ground state of a hydrogenic 'atom' formed from a deuteron and a pion decays to two identical neutrons $(n)$, each of spin $s=\frac{1}{2}$ and parity $\eta_{n}=+1$. Deduce the intrinsic parity of the pion.

The $\Delta^{-}$particle has spin $s=\frac{3}{2}$ and decays as

$$\Delta^{-} \rightarrow \pi^{-}+n .$$

What are the allowed values of the orbital angular momentum? In the centre of mass frame, the vector $\mathbf{r}_{\pi}-\mathbf{r}_{n}$ joining the pion to the neutron makes an angle $\theta$ to the $\hat{\mathbf{z}}$-axis. The final state is an eigenstate of $J_{z}$ and the spatial probability distribution is proportional to $\cos ^{2} \theta$. Deduce the intrinsic parity of the $\Delta^{-}$.

[Hint: You may use the fact that the first three Legendre polynomials are given by

$$\left.P_{0}(x)=1, \quad P_{1}(x)=x, \quad P_{2}(x)=\frac{1}{2}\left(3 x^{2}-1\right) . \quad\right]$$