RE: Do All Protons Have the Same Number of Quarks?
October 3, 2017 at 6:19 pm
(This post was last modified: October 3, 2017 at 6:31 pm by Alex K.)
(October 3, 2017 at 12:21 pm)Rhondazvous Wrote:If you manage to take the SU(3) symmetry group and put it on a stage, you deserve a Nobel in literature. It'll be the first subject that got two nobels in different fields (physics, 2004, literature, 20xx).(September 29, 2017 at 5:02 pm)Alex K Wrote: Hi!This is very cinematic. It's my job to take SU(3) and put it on a stage so readers can see it happening.
Yes and no - there are three quarks which make up its fixed inventory, but on top of that, quark-antiquark pairs pop in and out of existence constantly. The net number if you take the difference of quarks and antiquarks is exactly 3 though.
Wjy 3 exactly? Because the strong force is so strong, stable isolated particles need to be color neutral to exist. The symmetries of the strong force have the property that it is not possibe for 4 or 5 quarks to be color charge neutral. This can be explained by the mathematical structure of the strong interactions which are governed by an SU(3) symmetry group - if you want to get technical.
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Don't the quarks and antiquarks annihilate one another? If so, what is the product of that annihilation? A gamma ray like with electrons and positrons?
In the context of the proton or neutron, they are most likely to annihilate to a gluon again, but photons are also possible. They would however remain a part of the conglomerate of virtual and real particles which we call a proton or neutron. All these particles are actually a wild mix of all different kinds of elementary particles popping in and out of existence due to quantum fluctuations.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
