ElementaryParticles:

Readings:ParticlePhysics ParticlePhysicsTimeline QuarkConfinement

Oneoftheprimarygoalsinmodernphysicsistoanswerthequestion"Whatis theUniversemadeof?"Oftenthatquestionreducesto"Whatismatterand whatholdsittogether?"Thiscontinuesthelineofinvestigationstartedby Democritus,DaltonandRutherford. Modern physics speaks of fundamental building blocks of Nature, where fundamental takes on a reductionist meaning of simple and structureless. Many of the particles we have discussed so far appear simple in their properties.Allelectronshavetheexactsamecharacteristics(mass,charge, etc.),sowecallanelectronfundamentalbecausetheyareallnonunique. Thesearchfortheoriginofmattermeanstheunderstandingofelementary particles.Andwith theadvent ofholism, the understanding ofelementary particlesrequiresanunderstandingofnotonlytheircharacteristics,buthow theyinteractandrelatetootherparticlesandforcesofNature,thefieldof physicscalledparticlephysics.

Thestudyofparticlesisalsoastoryofadvancedtechnologybeginswiththe searchfortheprimaryconstituent.Morethan200subatomicparticleshave been discovered so far, all detected in sophisticated particle accelerators. However, most are not fundamental, most are composed of other, simpler particles.Forexample,Rutherfordshowedthattheatomwascomposedofa nucleusandorbitingelectrons.Laterphysicistsshowedthatthenucleuswas composedofneutronsandprotons.Morerecentworkhasshownthatprotons andneutronsarecomposedofquarks. QuarksandLeptons:

The two most fundamental types of particles arequarksandleptons. The quarks and leptons are divided into 6 flavors corresponding to three generationsofmatter.Quarks(andantiquarks)haveelectricchargesinunits of1/3or2/3's.Leptonshavechargesinunitsof1or0.

Normal,everydaymatterisofthefirstgeneration,sowecanconcentrateour investigationtoupanddownquarks,theelectronneutrino(oftenjustcalled theneutrino)andelectrons.

Notethatforeveryquarkorleptonthereisacorrespondingantiparticle.For example,thereisanupantiquark,anantielectron(calledapositron)andan antineutrino.Bosonsdonothaveantiparticlessincetheyareforcecarriers (seefundamentalforces).

FundamentalForces: Matteriseffectedbyforcesorinteractions(thetermsareinterchangeable). TherearefourfundamentalforcesintheUniverse: 1. gravitation(betweenparticleswithmass) 2. electromagnetic(betweenparticleswithcharge/magnetism) 3. strongnuclearforce(betweenquarks) 4. weaknuclearforce(operatesbetweenneutrinosandelectrons) Thefirsttwoyouarefamiliarwith,gravityistheattractiveforcebetweenall matter, electromagnetic force describes the interaction of charged particles andmagnetics.Light(photons)isexplainedbytheinteractionofelectricand magneticfields. Thestrongforcebindsquarksintoprotons,neutronsandmesons,andholds thenucleusoftheatomtogetherdespitetherepulsiveelectromagneticforce between protons. The weak force controls the radioactive decay of atomic nucleiandthereactionsbetweenleptons(electronsandneutrinos). Currentphysics(calledquantumfieldtheory)explainstheexchangeofenergy in interactions by the use of force carriers, called bosons. The long range forces have zero mass force carriers, the graviton and the photon. These operateonscaleslargerthanthesolarsystem.Shortrangeforceshavevery massiveforcecarriers,theW+,WandZfortheweakforce,thegluonforthe strongforce.Theseoperateonscalesthesizeofatomicnuclei.

So, although the strong force has the greatest strength, it also has the shortestrange.

BaryonsandMesons: Quarks combine to form the basic building blocks of matter, baryons and mesons.Baryonsaremadeofthreequarkstoformtheprotonsandneutrons ofatomicnuclei(andalsoantiprotonsandantineutrons).Mesons,madeof quark pairs, are usually found in cosmic rays. Notice that the quarks all combinetomakechargesof1,0,or+1.

Thus,ourcurrentunderstandingofthestructureoftheatomisshownbelow, the atom contains a nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons.Thenucleusiscomposedofneutralneutronsandpositivelycharged protons. The opposite charge of the electron and proton binds the atom togetherwithelectromagneticforces.

The protons and neutrons are composed of up and down quarks whose fractionalcharges(2/3and1/3)combinetoproducethe0or+1chargeofthe protonandneutron.Thenucleusisboundtogetherbythenuclearstrongforce (thatovercomestheelectromagneticrepulsionoflikechargedprotons) ColorCharge: Quarksinbaryonsandmesonsareboundtogetherbythestrongforceinthe form of the exchange of gluons. Much like how the electromagnetic force strength is determined by the amount of electric charge, the strong force strengthisdeterminedbyanewquantitycalledcolorcharge. Quarks come in three colors, red, blue and green (they are not actually colored, we just describe their color charge in these terms). So, unlike electromagneticchargeswhichcomeintwoflavors(positiveandnegativeor northandsouthpoles),colorchargeinquarkscomesinthreetypes.And,just tobemoreconfusing,colorchargealsohasitsantiparticlenature.Sothereis antired,antiblueandantigreen. Gluonsservethefunctionofcarryingcolorwhentheyinteractwithquarks. Baryonsandmesonsmusthaveamixofcolorssuchthattheresultiswhite. Forexample,red,blueandgreenmakewhite.Alsoredandantiredmake white.

QuarkConfinement: Therecanexistnofreequarks,i.e.quarksbythemselves.Allquarksmustbe boundtoanotherquarkorantiquarkbytheexchangeofgluons.Thisiscalled quark confinement. The exchange of gluons produces a color force field, referring to the assignment of color charge to quarks, similar to electric charge. Thecolorforcefieldisunusualinthatseparatingthequarksmakestheforce field stronger (unlike electromagnetic or gravity forces which weaken with distance). Energy is needed to overcome the color force field. That energy increases until a new quark or antiquark is formed (energy equals mass, E=mc2).

Twonewquarksformandbindtotheoldquarkstomaketwonewmesons. Thus,noneofthequarkswereatanytimeinisolation.Quarksalwaystravel inpairsortriplets. QuantumElectrodynamics: Thesubfieldofphysicsthatexplainstheinteractionofchargedparticlesand light is calledquantum electrodynamics. Quantum electrodynamics (QED) extendsquantumtheorytofieldsofforce,startingwithelectromagneticfields. UnderQED,chargedparticlesinteractbytheexchangeofvirtualphotons, photonsthatdonotexistoutsideoftheinteractionandonlyserveascarriers ofmomentum/force.

Noticetheeliminationofactionatadistance,theinteractionisduetodirect contactofthephotons. Inthe1960's,aformulationofQEDledtotheunificationofthetheoriesof weak and electromagnetic interactions. This new force, called electroweak, occurs at extremely high temperatures such as those found in the early Universeandreproducedinparticleaccelerators.Unificationmeansthatthe weakandelectromagneticforcesbecomesymmetricatthispoint,theybehave asiftheywereoneforce. Electroweakunificationgaverisetothebeliefthattheweak,electromagnetic andstrongforcescanbeunifiedintowhatiscalledtheStandardModelof matter. QuantumChromodynamics: Quantumchromodynamicsisthesubfieldofphysicsthatdescribesthestrong or``color''forcethatbindsquarkstogethertoformbaryonsandmesons,and resultsinthecomplicatedtheforcethatbindsatomicnucleitogether.

Thestrongforceovercomestheelectromagneticorgravitationalforcesonlyon veryshortrange.Outsidethenucleustheeffectofthestrongforceisnon existent. ActionataDistance: Newtonian physics assumes a direct connection between cause and effect. Electric and magnetic forces pose a dilemma for this interpretation since thereisnodirectcontactbetweenthetwocharges,ratherthereisanactionat adistance. Toresolvethisdilemmaitwaspostulatedthatthereisanexchangeofforce carriersbetweenchargedparticles.Theseforcecarrierswerelateridentified withparticlesoflight(photons).Theseparticlesservedtotransfermomentum bycontactbetweenchargedparticles,muchlikecollidingcarsandtrucks.

However, this attempt to resolve the action at a distance paradox uses a particle nature to light, when observation of interference patterns clearly showsthatlighthasawavelikenature.Itwasthisdualnaturetolight,of bothparticleandwave(seewave/particleduality),thatledtotherevolution knownasquantumphysics. TheoryofEverything: Isthatit?Arequarksandleptonsthefundamentalbuildingblocks?Answer= maybe.WearestilllookingtofillsomeholesinwhatisknowastheStandard Model. The Standard Model is a way of making sense of the multiplicity of elementaryparticlesandforceswithinasinglescheme.TheStandardModel is the combination of two schemes; the electroweak force (unification of electromagnetismandweakforce)plusquantumchromodynamics.Although the Standard Model has brought a considerable amount of order to elementaryparticlesandhasledtoimportantpredictions,themodelisnot withoutsomeseriousdifficulties. For example, the Standard Model contains a large number of arbitrary constants. Good choice of the constants leads to exact matches with experimental results. However, a good fundamental theory should be one wheretheconstantsareselfevident.

The Standard Model does not include the unification of all forces and, therefore, is incomplete. There is a strong expectation that there exists aGrandUnifiedFieldTheory(GUTS)thatwillprovideadeepermeaningto theStandardModelandexplainthemissingelements. Supergravity: Even a GUTS is incomplete because it would not include spacetime and thereforegravity.Itishypothesizedthata``TheoryofEverything''(TOE)will bringtogetherallthefundamentalforces,matterandcurvedspacetimeunder one unifying picture. For cosmology, this will be the single force that controlledtheUniverseatthetimeofformation.Thecurrentapproachtothe search for a TOE is to attempt to uncover some fundamental symmetry, perhapsasymmetryofsymmetries.ThereshouldbepredictionsfromaTOE, suchastheexistenceoftheHiggsparticle,theoriginofmassintheUniverse. One example of a attempt to formula a TOE issupergravity, a quantum theory that unities particle types through the use of ten dimensional spacetime(seediagrambelow).Spacetime(4Dconstruct)wassuccessful at explaining gravity. What if the subatomic world is also a geometric phenomenon.

Manymoredimensionsoftimeandspacecouldlieburiedatthequantum level, outside our normal experience, only having an impact on the microscopicworldofelementaryparticles.

Itisentirelypossiblethatbeneaththequantumdomainisaworldofpure chaos,withoutanyfixedlawsorsymmetries.Onethingisobvious,thatthe moreoureffortsreachintotherealmoffundamentallaws,themoreremoved fromexperiencearetheresults. StringTheory: AnotherrecentattempttoformaTOEisthroughM(formembrane)orstring theory.Stringtheoryisactuallyahighordertheorywhereothermodels,such assupergravityandquantumgravity,appearasapproximations.Thebasic premisetostringtheoryisthatsubatomicentities,suchasquarksandforces, areactuallytinyloops,stringsandmembranesthatbehaveasparticlesat highenergies.

One of the problems in particle physics is the bewildering number of elementary particles (muons and pions and mesons etc). String theory answersthisproblembyproposingthatsmallloops,about100billionbillion timessmallerthantheproton,arevibratingbelowthesubatomicleveland eachmodeofvibrationrepresentsadistinctresonancewhichcorrespondstoa particularparticle.Thus,ifwecouldmagnifyaquantumparticlewewould seeatinyvibratingstringorloop. The fantastic aspect to string theory, that makes it such an attractive candidate for a TOE, is that it not only explains the nature of quantum particlesbutitalsoexplainsspacetimeaswell.Stringscanbreakintosmaller strings or combine to form larger strings. This complicated set of motions mustobeyselfconsistentrulesandthetheconstraintcausedbytheserules resultsinthesamerelationsdescribedbyrelativitytheory.

AnotheraspectofstringtheorythatdiffersfromotherTOEcandidatesisits highaestheticbeauty.Forstringtheoryisageometrictheory,onethat,like general relativity, describes objects and interactions through the use of geometryanddoesnotsufferfrominfinitiesorwhatiscallednormalization problems such as quantum mechanics. It may be impossible to test the predictionsofstringtheorysinceitwouldrequiretemperatureandenergies similartothoseatthebeginningoftheUniverse.Thus,weresorttojudging themeritofthistheoryonitseleganceandinternalconsistenceratherthan experimentdata.
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Quark : A quark is any of a group of subatomic particles believed to be among the fundamental constituents of matter. In much the same way that protons and neutrons make up atomic nuclei, these particles themselves are thought to consist of quarks. Quarks constitute all hadrons (baryons and mesons)--i.e., all particles that interact by means of the strong force, the force that binds the components of the nucleus. According to prevailing theory, quarks have mass and exhibit a spin (i.e., type of intrinsic angular momentum corresponding to a rotation around an axis through the particle). Quarks appear to be truly fundamental. They have no apparent structure; that is, they cannot be resolved into something smaller. Quarks always seem to occur in combination with other quarks or antiquarks, never alone. For years physicists have attempted to knock a quark out of a baryon in experiments with particle accelerators to observe it in a free state but have not yet succeeded in doing so. Throughout the 1960s theoretical physicists, trying to account for the ever-growing number of subatomic particles observed in experiments, considered the possibility that protons and neutrons were composed of smaller units of matter. In 1961 two physicists, Murray Gell-Mann of the United States and Yuval Ne`eman of Israel, proposed a particle classification scheme called the Eightfold Way, based on the mathematical symmetry group SU(3), that described strongly interacting particles in terms of building blocks. In 1964 Gell-Mann introduced the concept of quarks as

a physical basis for the scheme, adopting the fanciful term from a passage in James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake. (The American physicist George Zweig developed a similar theory independently that same year and called his fundamental particles "aces.") Gell-Mann's model provided a simple picture in which all mesons are shown as consisting of a quark and an antiquark and all baryons as composed of three quarks. It postulated the existence of three types of quarks, distinguished by distinctive "flavours." These three quark types are now commonly designated as "up" (u), "down" (d), and "strange" (s). Each carries a fractional electric charge (i.e., a charge less than that of the electron). The up and down quarks are thought to make up protons and neutrons and are thus the ones observed in ordinary matter. Strange quarks occur as components of K mesons and various other extremely short-lived subatomic particles that were first observed in cosmic rays but that play no part in ordinary matter.

Most problems with quarks were resolved by the introduction of the concept of color, as formulated in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In this theory of strong

interactions, developed in 1977, the term color has nothing to do with the colors of the everyday world but rather represents a special quantum property of quarks. The colors red, green, and blue are ascribed to quarks, and their opposites, minus-red, minus-green, and minus-blue, to antiquarks. According to QCD, all combinations of quarks must contain equal mixtures of these imaginary colors so that they will cancel out one another, with the resulting particle having no net color. A baryon, for example, always consists of a combination of one red, one green, and one blue quark. The property of color in strong interactions plays a role analogous to an electric charge in electromagnetic interactions. Charge implies the exchange of photons between charged particles. Similarly, color involves the exchange of massless particles called gluons among quarks. Just as photons carry electromagnetic force, gluons transmit the forces that bind quarks together. Quarks change their color as they emit and absorb gluons, and the exchange of gluons maintains proper quark color distribution. Leptons : Leptons are any member of a class of fermions that respond only to electromagnetic, weak, and gravitational forces and do not take part in strong interactions. Like all fermions, leptons have a half-integral spin. (In quantummechanical terms, spin constitutes the property of intrinsic angular momentum.) Leptons obey the Pauli exclusion principle, which prohibits any two identical fermions in a given population from occupying the same quantum state. Leptons are said to be fundamental particles; that is, they do not appear to be made up of smaller units of matter. Leptons can either carry one unit of electric charge or be neutral. The charged leptons are the electrons, muons, and taus. Each of these types has a negative charge and a distinct mass. Electrons, the lightest leptons, have a mass only 0.0005 that of a proton. Muons are heavier, having more than 200 times as much mass as electrons. Taus, in turn, are approximately 3,700 times more massive than electrons. Each charged lepton has an associated neutral partner, or neutrino (i.e., electron-, muon-, and tau-neutrino), that has no electric charge and no significant mass. Moreover, all leptons, including the neutrinos, have antiparticles called antileptons. The mass of the antileptons is identical to that of the leptons, but all of the other properties are reversed.