Quark Generation: Are Most Quarks in the Universe in Their Least Massive Form?

  • Level: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter DaveBF
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Business Form
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
4 replies · 5K views
DaveBF
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
formed? I assume this has a very simple answer, I just can't seem to figure it out.
 
Physics news on Phys.org


Don't you think the average time until decay is relevant? How long does it take a quark to decay? How long does it take a proton to decay?
 


So eventually everything in the universe will have decayed into the smallest possible form, assuming the universe is still around by then?
Or am I totally missing your point?
 


Ah, I seem to have found the answer to my poorly worded question.
Most of the quarks in the universe are already in their least massive generation, and these are the ones that occur most often in nature.
So I suppose the answer to my question is yes, all of the quarks are in their smallest form, and that's the way they remain, save some rare high energy collisions creating more massive quarks, which decay quickly back into a lower massed particle.