Anti-particles

Symbol Charge

Electron (e) (−1)

Anti-electron (e ) (+1)

The charge and lepton/baryon number is opposite

Every particle has an antiparticle

Quarks

Charge Quarks

2
+( ) Up (u) Charm (c) Top (t)
3
1
−( ) Down (d ) Strange (s) Bottom (b)
3

Make hadrons (mesons and baryons)

Conservation laws

Charge

Baryon number

Lepton number

Strangeness

In a chemical equation, the total values of the above must be equal in the products and the inputs

Leptons (fundamental particles) - members of electron family

Symbol Charge Lepton number

Electron (e −) (−) (+1)

Muon (μ) (−) (+1)
Tau(on) (τ) (−) (+1)
Neutrinos (ve ), (vμ), (vτ ) (0) (+1)
(Increasing in mass going downwards)

Hadrons - particles made of quarks

Either mesons or baryons

In an anti-hadron, the quarks are antiquarks and the antiquarks are quarks

Mesons - quark-antiquark pairs

Mesons Quark structures

PIONS (π +) (u d )
KAONS (K +) (u s )
(Don’t learn quark structures)

Baryons - made of three quarks

Baryons Quark structure Baryon number

Protons (uu d ) (+1)

Neutrons (d du) (+1)
(Learn quark structures)

Fundamental forces

Gravitational force : weak with an in nite range and acts on all particles. It is always attractive
and over astronomic distances it is the dominant force - on an atomic or subatomic scale it is
negligible

Electromagnetic force : causes electric and magnetic e ects such as the forces between
electrical charges or bar magnets. Force has an in nite range and is very strong at small
distances, holding atoms and molecules together. It can be attractive or repulsive and acts
between all charged particles.

Strong nuclear force : very strong but very short range. Only acts over ranges of ≈ 10−15 m
and acts between hadrons but not leptons. At this range the force is attractive but it becomes
strongly repulsive at any smaller distances.

Weak nuclear force : responsible for radioactive decay and neutrino interactions. Without the
weak interaction stars could not undergo fusion and heavy nuclei could not be built up. It only act
over very short ranges of ≈ 10−18 m and acts between all particles.

Exchange particles

Fundamental forces are transmitted by exchange particles, they are said to be virtual particles as
they are undetectable during its transfer between particles.

Feynman diagrams
• Graphical visualisations that represent the interactions between particles.

• Wavy or broken lines represent exchange particles.

• Points at which lines come together are called vertices, here the conservation of charge, lepton
number and baryon number must be applied

Electromagnetic force Strong nuclear force

fi
fi
ff


(Downwards arrow represents an antiparticle moving forward in

time)

Negative beta decay

Conservation of strangeness
A particle containing a single strange quark will have a strangeness of -1

A particle containing a single anti strange quark will have a strangeness of 1

Strangeness is not conserved when strange particles decay through the weak nuclear force

When a strange quark decays into an up quark strangeness is not conserved

Strangeness is conserved through the strong nuclear force

Strange particles are always produced in anti-strange - strange pairs.

p + π − → K 0 + Λ0 in terms of quarks : uu d + u d → d s + u d s

For an interaction to be viable all four quantities (lepton, baryon, charge,

strangeness) must be conserved. {excluding strangeness for the weak
nuclear interaction}