How are neutral pi mesons formed and what is their composition?

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    Mesons Neutral Pi
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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the formation and composition of neutral pi mesons, exploring their quark structure, decay processes, and implications for particle interactions. Participants delve into theoretical aspects, including superposition states and the implications of particle production in quantum chromodynamics (QCD).

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that a decay producing a single type of meson could lead to oscillation between uubar and ddbar due to their similar masses.
  • Another participant clarifies that the neutral pion (pi0) is a single particle and does not oscillate, emphasizing that it is always a superposition of uubar and ddbar, with a small contribution from strange/antistrange quarks.
  • A different participant notes that the flavour combinations orthogonal to the pi0 are the eta mesons, which have different masses.
  • There is a request for sources to better understand the structure of pi mesons, specifically seeking free PDFs due to accessibility issues.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the nature of the neutral pion's composition and behavior, particularly regarding oscillation and superposition. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the implications of these concepts.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention the role of QCD in particle production and decay, but the discussion does not resolve the complexities of these processes or the assumptions involved in the claims made.

Garlic
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Hello,
I understand the fact that pi mesons are superpositions of uubar and ddbar. But what happens if a decay only produces a single type of meson? I am not sure of this, but omega baryon decaying into xi-minus and a neutral pion seems to produce ddbar mesons, is it so that only a single type of meson gets formed and then it oscillates between uubar and ddbar because of the relatively same mass those two mesons have?
Imagine that I'm bombarding protons with neutral pi mesons, how would the feynman diagramm look like? When we make pions react with other matter is it so that we are "measuring" it, and therefore forcing it to be in a certain eigenstate?
As far as I've understood, the composition of neutral pions are uubar - ddbar / sqrt2 is so because of the sightly higher mass of down quarks. Why isn't there be two neutral pions that have different mass and different composition, so that, the one we know, the normal neutral pion is going to have smaller mass, and the other neutral pion is going to be heavier with this composition uubar + ddbar / sqrt2 ?
Thank you
 
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Garlic said:
is it so that only a single type of meson gets formed and then it oscillates between uubar and ddbar because of the relatively same mass those two mesons have?
The pi0 is a single particle, it is not oscillating. It even has a small strange/antistrange contribution. The QCD production of the particle "makes sure" it is produced in the right state. For the production and decay process, it can be regarded as u/ubar or d/dbar combination, but it actually is always a superposition of those.
 
Just to mention, the flavour combinations which are orthogonal to the pi0 are the eta mesons. These have masses which are different from the pi0.
 
mfb said:
The pi0 is a single particle, it is not oscillating. It even has a small strange/antistrange contribution. The QCD production of the particle "makes sure" it is produced in the right state. For the production and decay process, it can be regarded as u/ubar or d/dbar combination, but it actually is always a superposition of those.

Could you please recommend me a source to read? I need to understand the structure of pi mesons better. (It needs to be a free pdf- I'm not near a library and I don't have a credit card)

Thank you
 

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