three body problem

[kurious]

Are quarks in a proton an example of a three body problem?
Is there a quark combination e.g two top quarks and a bottom quark,
that can give Lagrange points like the Earth, Moon and a small communications satellite can?

[marlon]

Re : three body problem

As a matter of fact there are two visions coming from the concept of quarkconfinement. One can see a proton as three quarks sitting at the endpoints of a mercedes-shaped structure (Mercedes-configuration or Y-configuration (no quark in the centre !!!)). The second possibility are three quarks sitting at the endpoints of a triangle-shaped configuration. The Mercedes shape comes from a three-body interaction while the triangle-shape is formed when only multiple two-body-interactions are taken into account between the quarks.These models are explained by the dual superconductor models. Which of the two structures make up a proton, depends on the distance between the quarks. i believe (but not sure) that for interquarkdistances beneath 0.7fm the triangle-shape is more favourable when looked at the energy necessary to make a quarktriplet. You need less energy to make a triangle then to make a mercedes-shape.

[marlon]

Those lagrange points come from a gravitational three body system. The interaction between quarks is of a totally different nature. This is the strong force. So whether you can construct such points just like with planets seems implausible to me, but I don't know for sure.