Particle Physics Intro

What’s Stuff Made Of…Really?All particles can be grouped into two categories: Fermions and Bosons

Things to know about Fermions:1) They have odd half- integer spin2) Hence obey the Pauli-Exclusion Principle

Things to know about Bosons:1) Particles that have integer spin #2) Can occupy the same state as another

Examples of Fermions: Protons, neutrons, quarks electrons etc..

Examples of Bosons: All the force-carriers

(photons, gluons, W and Z)AND all particles comprised of an

even # of fermions (like mesons)

FERMIONSBOSONS

The fundamental particles are

QUARKS FORCE CARRIERS

FERMIONS BOSONS

PARTICLES

LEPTONS

The fundamental particles are

QUARKS FORCE CARRIERS

FERMIONS BOSONS

PARTICLES

LEPTONS

up , down

charm, strange

top, bottom

Particles made upof quarks are called

HADRONS

NOTE: quarks have a fractional electric charge and have another distinguishing characteric called “colour”

Have net integer electric charges

Have no net colour (ie. They are colour neutral)

Note 2: Every particle in the standard model has an anti-particle. A charged anti-particle has all the same properties except it has theopposite charge of its matter “twin”. If the particle is not charged, the anti-particle has another quantum number that is opposite.

QUARKSQuarks come in different “flavors”and have fractional charges.

Top: +2/3Bottom: -1/3

Charm: +2/3Strange: -1/3

Up: +2/3Down: -1/3

Quarks are fermions and thus obey the Pauli Exclusion Principle

no two particles in the same quantum state can exist in the same place at the same time

However, the proton has two up quarks that would seem to be in the same state…

Quarks

Physicists realized there must be a property that distinguishes these states: the called it color.

The color charge of a quark has nothing to do with light. It is simply a way of distinguishing one from another.

We use this because when quarks combine in groups of three they form a color neutral particle. This is analogous to combining red, green and blue.

Each quark has an anti-quark with an opposite charge and the anti-color.

An example is the omega-minus particle which is comprised of 3 strange quarks.The distinguishing property must have 3 distinct values: red, green and blue.

HADRONS

Have net integer electric chargesHave no net colour (ie. They are colour neutral)

That are made up of three quarks

QUARKS

Make up

Baryons(which are fermions)

That are made up of a quark-antiquark pair

Mesons(which are bosons)

Examples include: Proton: uudNeutron: udd

Ex: K- : s

The quarks of hadrons are held together by the strong force

Have a baryon number of 1

Have a baryon number of 0

In all interactions, the baryon number is conserved

The fundamental particles are

QUARKS FORCE CARRIERS

FERMIONS BOSONS

PARTICLES

LEPTONS

Make up

HADRONS

gluons

W+, W- and Z0

photons

FORCE CARRIERS

BOSONS

FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES

gluons

W and Z

photons

Are exchange particles that mediate the fundamental forces

: mediate the STRONG FORCE between QUARKS. They also have color.The strong force increases with separation = no isolated color particles

:mediate the WEAK FORCE which is important in nuclear decays.

: mediate the ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCE between charged particles.

These two forces have been unified into the ELECTROWEAK force.The difference in their ranges (weak = very short, EM = very long range) is simply due to the difference in their boson mass. W and Z are very massive whereas the photon is not.

Gravitons: mediate GRAVITATIONAL FORCE between massive bodies

The fundamental particles are

QUARKS FORCE CARRIERS

FERMIONS BOSONS

PARTICLES

LEPTONS

Make up

HADRONS

gluons

W and Z

photons

3 flavors have charge of -13 flavors are neutral

Leptons

The stable matter of the universe appears to be made of just the two least-massive quarks (up quark and down quark), the least-massive charged lepton (the electron), and the neutrinos.

The electron is the best known lepton.

The other two charged leptons are the muon and the tau.

These are much more massive than the electron.

The other leptons are neutrinos: They have no charge and very little mass and are very hard to find.

65 billion neutrinos pass through your fingernail every second! And maybe one or two collide with something in your nail –

OVER YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!

LeptonsThe tau and muon lepton decay very quickly into lighter leptons.

When a heavy lepton decays, one of the particles it decays into is always its corresponding neutrino. The other particles could be a quark and its antiquark, or another lepton and its antineutrino.

Each family of leptons has a particular lepton number.

The electron and its neutrino have an electron number of +1.Positrons and their antineutrinos have electron number -1, and all other particles have electron number 0. Muon number and tau number operate analogously with the other two lepton families.

Family lepton number is conserved in all interactions.

More on Force CarriersGluons are the exchange particles associated with the STRONG force.

Gluons “stick” quarks together.

Gluons are massless, neutral and have a spin of 1.

They also carry color: but they carry two quantum numbers. They have 1 for color and the other for an anti-color.

A gluon can be red and anti-blue, for instance. There are 8 gluons

Ex: A green s quark emits a gluon and becomes a blue quark. State the flavor of the new quark and the colors of the emitted gluon.

Gluons do not change the flavor via the strong interaction so the new quark is s as well.

The gluon must carry green and antiblue.