Beta decay Charge conservation

[jc09]

In beta decat the u quark fromthe proton and the d quark from the neutron interact to produce a electron and it's neutrino. I'm wondering about the charge conservation of this process because a neutron has zero charge and a proton has charge of 1. How do we end up with a electron charge of -1 at the end.

 

[Meir Achuz]

A neutron decays into a proton, an electron, and a neutrino.

 

[tom.stoer]

In beta decat the u quark fromthe proton and the d quark from the neutron interact to produce a electron and it's neutrino. I'm wondering about the charge conservation of this process because a neutron has zero charge and a proton has charge of 1. How do we end up with a electron charge of -1 at the end.

You should look for a Feynman diagram of this process showing the quark lines

 

[jc09]

If a neutron has zero charge and produces a proton charge one and a electron charge -1 and a neutrino charge 0 why does it need a W- to mediate this

 

[jtbell]

In \beta^- decay, a down quark (charge -1/3) converts to an up quark (charge +2/3), an electron (charge -1) and an antineutrino (charge 0). The total charge is -1/3 before and after. Introducing a virtual W boson, we have a two-step process:

d \rightarrow u + W^-

W^- \rightarrow e^- + \bar \nu_e

 

[tom.stoer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beta_Negative_Decay.svg