Making a decay diagram with tikz

Question

I am trying to get a diagram of the decay shown in the picture. Sadly I have little to no knowledge concerning tikz and the results look horrible. Since I do not have enough time to really learn how to use tikz, I am reaching out to you. I only need to know how to create the nodes and connect the arrows properly. Till now my nodes have a rectangle around them and the K+ and Lambda are shifted, if they are in different nodes. Also I cannot connect the nodes properly (the arrow should begin right below the Lambda and go to the Sigma). If anyone can help, it would be very kind of you. Thanks, Emil

\begin{tikzpicture} 
\node[draw] (a) {\KPlus}; 
\node[draw,right of=a] (k) {\Lam}; 
\node[draw,below right of=k] (b) {\SigmaO}; 
\node[draw,right of=b] (c) {\PiO}; 
\draw[vecArrow] (k) |- (b); 
\end{tikzpicture}

Welcome to TeX.SE. Regardless that result of your effort looks horrible (as you say), show us what you try so far. — Zarko, Nov 03 '22 at 13:45
\begin{tikzpicture} \node[draw] (a) {\KPlus}; \node[draw,right of=a] (k) {\Lam}; \node[draw,below right of=k] (b) {\SigmaO}; \node[draw,right of=b] (c) {\PiO};
\draw[vecArrow] (k) |- (b);

\end{tikzpicture} — Emil R., Nov 03 '22 at 13:54
The \Lam etc are predefined and could be replaced by \Lambda (1520) etc — Emil R., Nov 03 '22 at 13:55
Does this answer your question? How to code arrows that go from one line to another — SebGlav, Nov 03 '22 at 13:56
You may want to edit your question and add the code that you posted as comment. — Jasper Habicht, Nov 03 '22 at 14:45
Thank you all, the answer of SebGlav was exactly what I was searching for. Thanks again! — Emil R., Nov 03 '22 at 14:53

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 03 '22 at 15:09

Here is a possibility using tikz and the matrix library. You can adjust row sep and column sep however you like. Additional spacing adjustments can be made using &[<length>].

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix(decay)[matrix of math nodes, nodes={anchor=base}, row sep=1ex]{
K^+\Lambda(1520)\
 &[-6mm] \Sigma^0\pi^0\
 & & \gamma\gamma\
 & & \gamma\Lambda &[3mm] p\pi^-\
 & & & \pi^0n\
 & pK^-\
 & \Sigma^{\pm}\pi^{\mp}\
};
\draw-stealth|-(decay-2-2);
\draw-stealth|-(decay-6-2);
\draw-stealth|-(decay-7-2);
\draw-stealth|-(decay-3-3);
\draw-stealth|-(decay-4-3);
\draw-stealth--(decay-4-4);
\draw-stealth|-(decay-5-4);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Making a decay diagram with tikz

1 Answers1