Ph y s i c s

In v e st ig a
t Or y
Pr Oj e c t
Primary Unit Quar
of E l e m e n t a r y
k’s
particles.
Quarks:-
A quark is a n Elementary particle and found
constituent of Matter. The quark model w a s independently
proposed by physicists Murray Gell-M a n n and George Zweig
in 1#$4. &uarks combine to form composite particles called
Hadrons ( P a r t i c l e s o n w h i c h s t r o n g f o r c e a c t s e . g . : -
P r o t o n s , n e u t r o n s , p i o n s , b a r y o n s , m e s o n s ) * the most
stable of which are Protons an d +eutrons* the composition
of atomic nuclei. D u e to a p h en o men o n known a s Color
confinement* quarks are ne/er directly obser/ed or found in
isolation0 they c a n be found only within hadrons* s u c h a s
baryons and mesons.
&uarks ha/e /arious intrinsic properties*
including electric charge* mass* color charge* and spin.
&uarks are the only elementary particles in the 1tandard
model of particle physics to e2perience all four fundamental
interactions* also known a s fundamental forces
(electromagnetism* gra/itation* strong interaction* and weak
interaction)* a s well a s the only known particles whose
electric charges are not integer multiples of the elementary
charge.
There are si2 types of quarks* known a s fla/ors4
up* down* strange* charm* top* an d bottom. Up and down
quarks ha/e the lowest m a s s e s of all quarks. The hea/ier
quarks rapidly c h a n g e into up an d down quarks through a
process of particle decay4 the transformation from a higher
m a s s state to a lower m a s s state. 5 e c a u s e of this* up and
down quarks
are generally stable and the most c o m m o n in the uni / er se*
whereas strange* charm* bottom* and top quarks can only
be produced in high energy collisions (such as those
i n / o l / i n g cosmic rays and in particle accelerators). For
e / e r y quark f l a / o r there is a corresponding type of
antiparticle* known as an antiquark* t h a t differs fr om the
quark only in t h a t some of its properties h a / e equal
magnitude b u t opposite sign.
&uarks are 8 spin particles* implying that they are fermions
according to the spin - statistics theorem. They are s ubJec t
to the Pauli E2clusion Principle* which states that no two
identical fermions ca n simultaneously occupy the s a m e
quantum state. This is in contrast to bosons* a n y number of
which ca n be in s a m e state. Unlike leptons* quarks p o s s e s s
color charge* which c a u s e s them to e n g a g e in the strong
interaction. The resulting attraction between different
quarks c a u s e s the formation of composite particles known
a s hadrons.

The quarks which determine the quantum numbers of

hadrons are called /alance quarks0 apart from these* any
hadron c a n contain a n indefinite number of /irtual quarks*
antiquarks* and gluons which do not influence its quantum
numbers. There are two families of hadrons4 baryons* with
three /alence quarks* an d mesons* with a /alence quark
an d a n antiquark. The most c o m m o n baryons are the proton
an d the neutron* the building blocks of the atomic nucleus.
A great number of hadrons are known* most of them
differentiated b y their quark content and the properties
these constituent quarks confer. The e2istence of :e2otic:
hadrons with more /alence quarks* s u c h a s tetraquarks
(qqqq) and pentaquarks (qqqqq)* h a s been c on Jec tured but
not pro/en. Howe/er* on 1 3 <u ly 2>15* the @HCb
collaboration at C E R + reported results consistent with
pentaquark states.
Elementary fermions are grouped into three generations*
each comprising t w o leptons and t w o quarks. The first
generation includes up and down quarks* the second
strange and charm quarks* and the third b o t t o m and top
quarks. All searches for a fourth generation of quarks and
other elementary fermions h a / e failed* and there is strong
indirect e / i d e n c e t h a t no more than three generations e2ist.
Particles in higher generations generally h a / e greater mass
and less stability* causing t h e m to decay into lower-
generation particles by means of weak interactions. Bnly
first-generation (up and down) quarks occur commonly in
nature. Hea/ i er quarks can only be created in high-energy
collisions (such as in those i n / o l / i n g cosmic rays)* and
decay quickly0 howe/ er * they are thought to h a / e been
present during the first fractions of a second after the 5ig
5ang* when the uni / er se was in an e2tremely hot and dense
phase (the quark epoch). 1tudies of h e a / i e r quarks are
conducted in artificially created conditions* such as in
particle accelerators.

Ha/ i ng electric charge* mass* color charge* and f l a/ or*

quarks are the only known elementary particles t h a t engage
in all four fundamental interactions of contemporary
phy sics4 electromagnetism* gr a/ it at i on* strong interaction*
and weak interaction. Gr a/ i t at i on is too weak to be r e l e / a n t
to in di /i d ual particle interactions e2cept at e2tremes of
energy (Planck energy) and distance scales (Planck
d i stan ce) . H o we / e r* s i n c e n o s u c c e s s f u l q u a n t u m t h e o r y of
g r a / i t y e 2is ts * gr a/ i ta ti o n is no t d e s c r i b e d b y t h e 1 ta n d a r d
Model.

HI STORY4-

T h e q u a rk m o d e l w a s p ro p o s e d b y p h / s İc İs t s M l r r a / Ge l l -
M a n n a n d Ge Or g e Z We İg in 1 # $ 4 . A t th e tim e o f th e & u a rk
th e o ry Cs in c e p tio n * th e ” p a r t İc l e zOO” in c lu d e d * a m o n g s t
o th e r p a rtic le s * a n l l t İt l d e Of H a d r On s . G e ll-Ma n n a n d
Z w e ig p o s ite d th at th e y w e re n o t e le m e nta ry p a rtic le s * b u t
w e re in s te a d c o m p o s e d o f c o m b in a tio n s o f q u a rk s a n d
a n tiq u a rk s . T h e ir m o d e l in / o k e d th re e f l a VOr s o f q u a rk s *
l p * d OWn * a n d s t r a n g e * to w h ic h th e y a s c rib e d p ro p e rtie s
s u c h a s s p in a n d e le c tric c h a rg e . T h e re w a s p a rtic u la r
c o n te n tio n a b o u t w h e th e r th e q u a rk w a s a p h y s ic a l e n tity o r
a m e re a b s tra c tio n u s e d to e 2 p la in c o n c e p ts th a t w e re n o t
fu lly u n d e rs to o d a t th e tim e .

Dn l e s s t h a n a y e ar* e 2 te n s i o n s to t h e Gell-Mann-Z w e i g
m o d e l w e r e p r o p o s e d . 1 h e l d o n @e e G l a s h o w a n d <a m e s
5 J o r ke n p r e d i c t e d t h e e 2 i s t e n c e of fourth fl a /o r of q u ark *
w h i c h t h e y ca l l e d C h a r n . T h e additi o n w a s p r o p o s e d
b e c a u s e it a l low ed for a b e tt e r d e s c r i pti o n of t h e We a k
İ n t e r a c t İ O n ( t h e m e c h a n i s m that allows ql ar k s to d eca/ ) *
e q u a l i ze d t h e n u m b e r of k n o w n q u a r k s with t h e n u m b e r of
known leptons* and implied a m a s s formula that correctly
reproduced the m a s s e s of the known mesons.

Dn 1 # $ F * deep inelastic scattering e2periments at the

S t a n f O r d L İ n e a r A c c e l e r a t O r c e n t e r (SLAC) showed that
the proton contained m u c h smaller* point-like obJects and
w a s therefore not a n elementary particle. Physicists were
reluctant to firmly identify these obJec ts with quarks at the
time* instead calling them  p a r t O n s ” - a term gi/en by
Richard Feynman. The obJec ts were later identified a s l p
an d dOWn quarks a s the other fla/ors were disco/ered.
+ e/ertheles s *” p a r t On ” remains in u s e a s a collecti/e term
for the constituents of hadrons (quarks* antiquarks* and
gluons).

The strange quarkCs e2istence w a s indirectly /alidated

by 1 @AC Cs scattering e2periments4 not only necessary
component of Gell-Ma n n an d Z weig Cs three-quark model*
but it pro/ided a n e2planation for the kaOn (K) and pİOn
(V) hadrons disco/ered in cosmic rays in 1#4H.

Dn 1#H> paper* Glashow* <ohn Dliopouos and @uciano

Maiani presented the s o called G DM m ec h a n i sm to e2plain
the e2perimental non-obser/ation of fla/or-changing
neutral currents. This theoretical model required the
e2istence of the as-yet undisco/ered charm quark.

C h a r n quarks were produced almost simultaneously b y two

teams in +o/ember 1#H4. B n e at SLAC under Bl r t On
Rİ ch t e r * and one at BrOOkhaVen N a t İ O n a l La b Or a t Or /
under San l el T İ n g . The charm quarks were obser / ed
bound with charm antiquarks in mesons. The t wo parties
had assigned the di sco/ er ed meson t w o different symbols* J
and 0 thus* it became formally known as the J/ n e s On .

Dn following years a nu mb e r of suggestions appeared for

e2tending the quark model to si2 quarks. B f these* in 1#H5
paper by Haim Harari was the first to coin the terms tOp
and b Ot t On for the additional quarks.

Dn 1#HH* the b Ot t On quark was obser / ed by a t e a m at

Fermilab led by LeOn L e d e r n a n . This was a strong
indicator of the top quar kCs e2istence. Dt was in 1##5
that t O p quark was finally obser / ed* also by the CDF
and D
teams at Fermilab.

Dt had a mass m u c h larger than had been

pr e/ i ousl y e2pected* almost as larger as t h a t of a
Gold Atom.

Et / n Ol Og / 4-
For some time* Gell-Mann was undecided on an actual
spelling for the t e r m he intended to coin* until he found the
word QUARK in <am es <oy ceCs book F İ n n e g a n s W a k e 4-

T h r e e QUARKS fOr n l st er M a r k !

Gell-Mann wen t into further detail regarding the name quark

in his book T h e Ql ar k a n d t h e Jag l ar.
Dn 1#$3 he assigned the name &uark to the
fundamental constituent of Nl cl eOn .

Zweig preferred the na me a c e for the particle he had

theorized* b u t Gell-MannCs terminology came to
prominence once the quark model had been commonly
accepted.

The quark f l a/ or s were g i / e n their names for se/ er al

reasons. The l p and dOWn quarks are na med after the up
and down components of İsOspİn* which they carry.
S t r a n g e quarks were g i / e n their names because they
were
di sco/ er ed to be components of the strange particles
di sco/ er ed in cosmic rays years before the quark model was
pr oposed0 these particles were deemed  s t r a n g e ” because
they had unusually long lifetimes. Glashow* who co-
proposed C h a r n quark with 5Jorken* is quoted as sayi ng*I
J e called our construct the ’ c h a r n e d ql ar k ’ * for we were
fascinated and pleased by the s y m m e t r y it brought to the
Sl b- nl cl ear WOr l d I . The names ” b Ot t On ” and ” t Op ” *
coined by Harari* were chosen because they are logical
partners for up and down quarksI. Dn the past* b o t t o m and
top quarks were sometimes referred to as ” beal t / ” and
” t r l t h” r espect i / el y. Therefore accelerator comple2es
d e / o t e d to massi / e production of b o t t o m quarks are
sometimes called ” beal t / f act Or İ es” .