INTRODUCTION TO ELEMENTARY

PARTICLES
GRIFFITH’S FIRST CHAPTER
INDEX
• HISTORY OF PARTICLE PHYSICS(CLASSICAL ERA)
• PHOTON
• MESON
• NEUTRINO
• EIGHTFOLD WAY
• GELLMAN NISHIJIMA FORMULA
• QUARK MODEL
• COLOR HYPOTHESIS
• STANDARD MODEL
HISTORY OF PARTICLE PHYSICS(CLASSICAL ERA)
The discovery of electron by Thomson in 1897 was the beginning of the particle physics. Thomson
knew that cathode rays could be deflected from magnetic field which suggested these were not
rays rather a stream of particles. Then came Rutherford’s gold foil experiment whose results were
not in accordance with Thomson’s model of atom, which suggested that there is a highly dense
concentration of positively charged matter at the centre of the atom later known as nucleus which
consists of protons.
Bohr proposed a model for hydrogen atom with a single proton and electron revolving around
proton in a orbit. But for heavier atoms for example, Helium atom it consist of two electron but
weighs four times as much as hydrogen atom. This dilemma was resolved from the discovery of
neutron from Chadwick which states that neutron is a chargeless particle with roughly the same
mass as proton.
PHOTON (1900-1924)
Planck assumed that the electromagnetic radiation is quantized, given as E=hv. Planck did not
profess as to why radiation was quantized. It was Einstein who gave an explanation with
photoelectric effect to Planck’s idea. It states that electromagnetic radiation of sufficient frequency
incident on a metal results in ejection of electrons from the surface of metal. Furthermore the
theory was favoured after the results of Compton scattering which found that light scattered from
particle at rest is shifted in wavelength, given by 𝜆′ = 𝜆 + 𝜆𝑐(1 − 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃).
It was a direct experimental evidence for existence of photons(𝛾).In quantum field theory the
electric field is quantized and the interaction between charges is done by exchange of photons
between them.
MESONS (1934-1947)
The binding of nucleus could not be understood by known physical laws at that time. Based on
electromagnetism alone proton would repel each other,In the mid-1930s, Yukawa proposed a new
force to hold the nucleus together, which would eventually become known as the strong nuclear
force. He speculated that this force was mediated by a new particle called a meson. Strong force
is a short-range force, so the mediator was expected to be heavy and Yukawa calculated it’s mass
to be about 300 times that of electron. The experimental evidence was found in cosmic rays which
found that the Yukawa meson 𝜋 also known as pion disintegrates to muon in the lower
atmosphere.
ANTIPARTICLES (1930-1956)
In particle physics, every type of particle is associated with an antiparticle with the same mass but with
opposite physical charges and quantum numbers.
Dirac’s equation was supposed to describe free electron with energy given by the relativistic formula
𝐸 2 = 𝑃2 𝑐 2 + 𝑀2 𝑐 4 . But the value of energy gave two solutions one positive and one negative, and
given the natural tendency of the system to evolve in lower energy states the electron will runaway to
increasingly negative state, radiating infinite amount of energy. This was an anomaly and Dirac proposed
that the negative states were filled with a sea of infinite electrons
And is uniform and does not exert no net force on anything. Then using Pauli’s exclusion principle which
says that no two electron can occupy same state. But what would happen if one provided sufficient
energy to one of the electrons in the negative state to knock it off into positive state, this would be
interpreted as a net positive charge at that location of same mass as electron. This was later discovered
and was called as positron ,antiparticle of electron.
Neutrinos (1930-1962)
In a beta decay process such as
A B + C the energy of the C particle
is given as
This is the maximum kinetic energy of particle
C. For example in case of neutron decay
𝑛 𝑝+ + 𝑒 −
The expected kinetic energy of electron was
Not observed experimentally.
The observed energy of electron was varying across a range, Which was shocking at that time. To
conserve the energy a new particle had to be introduced known as neutrino and it had following
properties.
• It had to be chargeless
• Mass is zero
• Spin is s=1/2
• Fermion
So the reaction became as
𝑛 𝑝+ + 𝑒 − + 𝜈
Where ν is called nuetrino
And ν is anti particle of neutrino.
STRANGE PARTICLES(1947-1960)
Strangeness is a quantum number which was defined for particles who depicted strange
behaviour. Most of these particles were produced via strong interaction and decay via weak
interaction and they were always produced in pairs.
For example in a pion – proton collision
𝜋 − + 𝑝+ 𝐾0 + 𝜆
Here the K carry strangeness S=1 and 𝜆 carry strangeness S=-1 hence the strangeness is
conserved in strong interaction.
When these particle decay via weak interaction then the strangeness is not conserved
𝜆 𝑝+ + 𝜋 −
EIGHTFOLD WAY
The Eightfold Way arranged the baryons and mesons into nice geometrical patterns, according to
their charge and strangeness.

(baryon octet) (meson octet) (baryon decuplet)

GELLMAN NISHIJIMA FORMULA
(𝐵+𝑆)
𝑄 = 𝐼3 +
2

(𝐵+𝑆+𝐶+𝑇+𝐵′ )
GENERALIZED FORM : 𝑄 = 𝐼3 +
2
Q: charge
𝐼3 : isospin 3rd component
B: baryon number
S: strangeness
T: truth
B’: beauty
C: charm
QUARK MODEL
Gellman and Zweig proposed that all hadrons are infact composed of even more elementary
particles called quarks. Quarks come in 3 flavor forming an eightfold way pattern.

Up ,down ,strange quarks and their respective anti quarks.

• Every baryon is composed of 3 quarks and every antibaryon of 3 antiquark
• Every meson is composed of a quark and antiquark
COLOR HYPOTHESIS
There was a theoretical objection to quark model it violated Pauli’s exclusion principle as pauli’s
principle is generalized to all fermions and quarks have non integer spin. For example ∆++
Is supposed to consist of three identical up quarks.
To solve this dilemma color hypothesis was introduced. They proposed that quarks can have three
color charges. This type of charge was called "color" because certain combinations of quark colors
would be "neutral" in the sense that three ordinary colors can yield white, a neutral color. Only
particles that are color neutral can exist. This also resolve a problem with Pauli principle
STANDARD MODEL
LATER ON MANY QUARKS WERE DISCOVERED AND THEY WERE ARRANGED IN A
SYSTEMATIC MANNER KNOWN AS STANDARD MODEL.
REFERENCE
• INTRODUCTION TO ELEMENTARY PARTICLE BY GRIFFITH