Neutral pion quark composition help

[Quarkyguy]

Hi guys,

Merry Christmas to you all!

I wanted to know whether a neutral pion can be made up of a strange quark and an anti-strange quark. I know that the kaon is the only strange meson and all variations contain an s quark but wouldn't the strangeness be zero in an s quark/anti-s quark pair as their strangenesses cancel out?

My textbook includes the s quark/anti-s quark composition for the neutral pion but my revision guide only mentions the u/anti-u and the d/anti-d combinations.

I would appreciate if someone cleared things up for me!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Orodruin]

The neutral strangeless mesons are not particular uubar, ddbar or ssbar combinations. It is a linear combination of flavor-antiflavor states. In the case of the pion, that combination involves no ssbar component.

 

[Vanadium 50]

involves no ssbar component.

I would say "negligible".

 

[Orodruin]

I would say "negligible".

For b-level I would consider that essentially equivalent...

 

[Quarkyguy]

The neutral strangeless mesons are not particular uubar, ddbar or ssbar combinations. It is a linear combination of flavor-antiflavor states. In the case of the pion, that combination involves no ssbar component.

Thanks, mate