Can a W boson decay to a u quark and anti-s quark?

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The W boson can decay to a u quark and an anti-s quark due to the mixing of down-type quarks facilitated by the CKM matrix. This allows for decay channels such as W^+ to u\bar{d}, u\bar{s}, and u\bar{b}, as well as corresponding channels involving the charm quark. The weak couplings are not restricted to quarks of the same generation, confirming the flexibility in decay processes.

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Ajihood
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Hey Guys,

Just a quick question. Can a W boson decay to a u and anti s or does it have to decay to a quark and anti-quark of the same generation?

Thanks!
 
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The weak couplings are determined by the CKM matrix, which mixes the down type quarks between generations. So the W^+ can decay to u\bar{d}, u\bar{s}, u\bar{b}, as well as the corresponding channels involving the charm quark.
 
Thanks for that fzero. I thought it could because of the CKM matrix but I have only seen examples of where it decays to u and anti d etc so I was a little worried that there may be more there I haven't learned yet. Thanks again :)
 

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