Composition |
|
---|---|
Statistics | Fermionic |
Family | Baryons |
Interactions | Strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravity |
Types | 3 |
Mass | |
Spin | 1⁄2 |
Strangeness | -1 |
Isospin | 1 |
The sigma baryons are a family of subatomic hadron particles which have two quarks from the first flavour generation (up and / or down quarks), and a third quark from a higher flavour generation, in a combination where the wavefunction sign remains constant when any two quark flavours are swapped. They are thus baryons, with total isospin of 1, and can either be neutral or have an elementary charge of +2, +1, 0, or −1. They are closely related to the Lambda baryons, which differ only in the wavefunction's behaviour upon flavour exchange.
The third quark can hence be either a strange (symbols
Σ+
,
Σ0
,
Σ−
), a charm (symbols
Σ++
c,
Σ+
c,
Σ0
c), a bottom (symbols
Σ+
b,
Σ0
b,
Σ−
b) or a top (symbols
Σ++
t,
Σ+
t,
Σ0
t) quark. However, the top sigmas are expected to never be observed, since the Standard Model predicts the mean lifetime of top quarks to be roughly 5×10−25 s. [2] This is about 20 times shorter than the timescale for strong interactions, and therefore it does not form hadrons.
The symbols encountered in these lists are: I ( isospin ), J ( total angular momentum ), P ( parity ), u ( up quark ), d ( down quark ), s ( strange quark ), c ( charm quark ), t ( top quark ), b ( bottom quark ), Q ( electric charge ), S ( strangeness ), C ( charmness ), B′ ( bottomness ), T ( topness ), as well as other subatomic particles (hover for name).
Antiparticles are not listed in the table; however, they simply would have all quarks changed to antiquarks (and vice versa), and Q, B, S, C, B′, T, would be of opposite signs. I, J, and P values in red have not been firmly established by experiments, but are predicted by the quark model and are consistent with the measurements. [3] [4]
Particle name | Symbol | Quark content | Rest mass (MeV/c 2) | I | J P | Q (e) | S | C | B′ | T | Mean lifetime (s) | Decay modes (branching ratio) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sigma [5] | Σ+ | u u s | 1,189.37 ± 0.07 | 1 | 1/2+ | +1 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.018 ± 0.026 × 10−11 | p+ + π0 ((51.57±0.30)%) n0 + π+ ((48.31±0.30)%) |
Sigma [5] | Σ0 | u d s | 1,192.642 ± 0.024 | 1 | 1/2+ | 0 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.4 ± 0.7 × 10−20 | Λ0 + γ (100%) |
Sigma [5] | Σ− | d d s | 1,197.449 ± 0.030 | 1 | 1/2+ | −1 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.479 ± 0.011 × 10−10 | n0 + π− ((99.848±0.005)%) |
Charmed sigma [5] | Σ++ c(2455) | u u c | 2,453.97 ± 0.14 | 1 | 1/2 + | +2 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 ± 0.4 × 10−22 [a] | Λ+ c + π+ (≈100%) |
Charmed sigma [5] | Σ+ c(2455) | u d c | 2,452.9 ± 0.4 | 1 | 1/2 + | +1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 | >1.4 × 10−22 [a] | Λ+ c + π0 (≈100%) |
Charmed sigma [5] | Σ0 c(2455) | d d c | 2,453.75 ± 0.14 | 1 | 1/2 + | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 3.6± 0.4 × 10−22 [a] | Λ+ c + π− (≈100%) |
Bottom sigma [5] | Σ+ b | u u b | 5,810.56 ± 0.23 | 1 | 1/2 + | +1 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | 1.31± 0.13 × 10−22 [a] | Λ0 b + π+ (dominant) |
Bottom sigma † | Σ0 b | u d b | Unknown | 1 | 1/2 + | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | Unknown | Unknown |
Bottom sigma [5] | Σ− b | d d b | 5,815.2 ± 0.27 | 1 | 1/2 + | −1 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | 1.24± 0.13 × 10−22 [a] | Λ0 b + π− (dominant) |
Top sigma † | Σ++ t | u u t | — | 1 | 1/2 + | +2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | — | — |
Top Sigma † | Σ+ t | u d t | — | 1 | 1/2 + | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | — | — |
Top Sigma † | Σ0 t | d d t | — | 1 | 1/2 + | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | — | — |
† ^ The standard model predicts that this particle cannot exist.
[a] ^ PDG reports the resonance width (Γ). Here the conversion τ = ħ/Γ is given instead.
[b] ^ The specific values of the name has not been decided yet, but will likely be close to
Σ
b(5810).
Particle name | Symbol | Quark content | Rest mass (MeV/c 2) | I | J P | Q (e) | S | C | B′ | T | Mean lifetime (s) | Commonly decays to |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sigma [6] | Σ∗+ (1385) | u u s | 1,382.8 ± 0.4 | 1 | 3/2+ | +1 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.84 ± 0.04 × 10−23 [c] | Λ0 + π+ or Σ+ + π0 or Σ0 + π+ |
Sigma [6] | Σ∗0 (1385) | u d s | 1,383.7 ± 1.0 | 1 | 3/2+ | 0 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.8 ± 0.3 × 10−23 [c] | Λ0 + π0 or Σ+ + π− or Σ− + π+ |
Sigma [6] | Σ∗− (1385) | d d s | 1,387.2 ± 0.5 | 1 | 3/2+ | −1 | −1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.67 ± 0.09 × 10−23 [c] | Λ0 + π− or Σ0 + π− or Σ− + π0 or |
Charmed sigma [7] | Σ∗++ c(2520) | u u c | 2,518.4 ± 0.6 | 1 | 3/2 + | +2 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 4.4 ± 0.6 × 10−23 [c] | Λ+ c + π+ |
Charmed sigma [7] | Σ∗+ c(2520) | u d c | 2,517.5 ± 2.3 | 1 | 3/2 + | +1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 | >3.9 × 10−23 [c] | Λ+ c + π0 |
Charmed sigma [7] | Σ∗0 c(2520) | d d c | 2,518.0 ± 0.5 | 1 | 3/2 + | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 4.1 ± 0.5 × 10−23 [c] | Λ+ c + π− |
Bottom sigma † | Σ∗+ b | u u b | Unknown | 1 | 3/2 + | +1 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | Unknown | Unknown |
Bottom sigma † | Σ∗0 b | u d b | Unknown | 1 | 3/2 + | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | Unknown | Unknown |
Bottom sigma † | Σ∗− b | d d b | Unknown | 1 | 3/2 + | −1 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | Unknown | Unknown |
Top sigma † | Σ∗++ t | u u t | — | 1 | 3/2 + | +2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | — | — |
Top sigma † | Σ∗+ t | u d t | — | 1 | 3/2 + | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | — | — |
Top sigma † | Σ∗0 t | d d t | — | 1 | 3/2 + | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | — | — |
† ^ The standard model predicts that this particle cannot exist.
[c] ^ PDG reports the resonance width (Γ). Here the conversion τ = ħ/Γ is given instead.
In particle physics, a baryon is a type of composite subatomic particle which contains an odd number of valence quarks. Baryons belong to the hadron family of particles; hadrons are composed of quarks. Baryons are also classified as fermions because they have half-integer spin.
In particle physics, a hadron is a composite subatomic particle made of two or more quarks held together by the strong interaction. They are analogous to molecules that are held together by the electric force. Most of the mass of ordinary matter comes from two hadrons: the proton and the neutron, while most of the mass of the protons and neutrons is in turn due to the binding energy of their constituent quarks, due to the strong force.
In particle physics, a meson is a type of hadronic subatomic particle composed of an equal number of quarks and antiquarks, usually one of each, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of quark subparticles, they have a meaningful physical size, a diameter of roughly one femtometre (10−15 m), which is about 0.6 times the size of a proton or neutron. All mesons are unstable, with the longest-lived lasting for only a few tenths of a nanosecond. Heavier mesons decay to lighter mesons and ultimately to stable electrons, neutrinos and photons.
In physics and chemistry, a nucleon is either a proton or a neutron, considered in its role as a component of an atomic nucleus. The number of nucleons in a nucleus defines the atom's mass number.
In particle physics, a pion is any of three subatomic particles:
π0
,
π+
, and
π−
. Each pion consists of a quark and an antiquark and is therefore a meson. Pions are the lightest mesons and, more generally, the lightest hadrons. They are unstable, with the charged pions
π+
and
π−
decaying after a mean lifetime of 26.033 nanoseconds, and the neutral pion
π0
decaying after a much shorter lifetime of 85 attoseconds. Charged pions most often decay into muons and muon neutrinos, while neutral pions generally decay into gamma rays.
The omega baryons are a family of subatomic hadron particles that are represented by the symbol
Ω
and are either neutral or have a +2, +1 or −1 elementary charge. They are baryons containing no up or down quarks. Omega baryons containing top quarks are not expected to be observed. This is because the Standard Model predicts the mean lifetime of top quarks to be roughly 5×10−25 s, which is about a twentieth of the timescale for strong interactions, and therefore that they do not form hadrons.
The charm quark, charmed quark, or c quark is an elementary particle of the second generation. It is the third-most-massive quark with a mass of 1.27±0.02 GeV/c2 as measured in 2022 and a charge of +2/3e. It carries charm, a quantum number. Charm quarks are found in hadrons such as the J/psi meson and the charmed baryons. Several bosons, including the W and Z bosons and the Higgs boson, can decay into charm quarks.
The top quark, sometimes also referred to as the truth quark, is the most massive of all observed elementary particles. It derives its mass from its coupling to the Higgs Boson. This coupling is very close to unity; in the Standard Model of particle physics, it is the largest (strongest) coupling at the scale of the weak interactions and above. The top quark was discovered in 1995 by the CDF and DØ experiments at Fermilab.
A pentaquark is a human-made subatomic particle, consisting of four quarks and one antiquark bound together; they are not known to occur naturally, or exist outside of experiments specifically carried out to create them.
In particle physics, the hyperchargeY of a particle is a quantum number conserved under the strong interaction. The concept of hypercharge provides a single charge operator that accounts for properties of isospin, electric charge, and flavour. The hypercharge is useful to classify hadrons; the similarly named weak hypercharge has an analogous role in the electroweak interaction.
In nuclear physics and particle physics, isospin (I) is a quantum number related to the up- and down quark content of the particle. More specifically, isospin symmetry is a subset of the flavour symmetry seen more broadly in the interactions of baryons and mesons.
A hypernucleus is similar to a conventional atomic nucleus, but contains at least one hyperon in addition to the normal protons and neutrons. Hyperons are a category of baryon particles that carry non-zero strangeness quantum number, which is conserved by the strong and electromagnetic interactions.
In physics, the eightfold way is an organizational scheme for a class of subatomic particles known as hadrons that led to the development of the quark model. Working alone, both the American physicist Murray Gell-Mann and the Israeli physicist Yuval Ne'eman proposed the idea in 1961. The name comes from Gell-Mann's (1961) paper and is an allusion to the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism.
In particle physics, the quark model is a classification scheme for hadrons in terms of their valence quarks—the quarks and antiquarks that give rise to the quantum numbers of the hadrons. The quark model underlies "flavor SU(3)", or the Eightfold Way, the successful classification scheme organizing the large number of lighter hadrons that were being discovered starting in the 1950s and continuing through the 1960s. It received experimental verification beginning in the late 1960s and is a valid effective classification of them to date. The model was independently proposed by physicists Murray Gell-Mann, who dubbed them "quarks" in a concise paper, and George Zweig, who suggested "aces" in a longer manuscript. André Petermann also touched upon the central ideas from 1963 to 1965, without as much quantitative substantiation. Today, the model has essentially been absorbed as a component of the established quantum field theory of strong and electroweak particle interactions, dubbed the Standard Model.
In particle physics, a rho meson is a short-lived hadronic particle that is an isospin triplet whose three states are denoted as
ρ+
,
ρ0
and
ρ−
. Along with pions and omega mesons, the rho meson carries the nuclear force within the atomic nucleus. After the pions and kaons, the rho mesons are the lightest strongly interacting particle, with a mass of 775.45±0.04 MeV for all three states.
The Delta baryons are a family of subatomic particle made of three up or down quarks, the same constituent quarks that make up the more familiar protons and neutrons.
The Xi baryons or cascade particles are a family of subatomic hadron particles which have the symbol Ξ and may have an electric charge of +2 e, +1 e, 0, or −1 e, where e is the elementary charge.
The lambda baryons (Λ) are a family of subatomic hadron particles containing one up quark, one down quark, and a third quark from a higher flavour generation, in a combination where the quantum wave function changes sign upon the flavour of any two quarks being swapped. They are thus baryons, with total isospin of 0, and have either neutral electric charge or the elementary charge +1.