Quark Structure of Particles & Antiparticles: Rules & Order

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the quark structure of particles and their corresponding antiparticles, specifically addressing the rules for representing quarks and the order of quark symbols. Participants explore theoretical aspects of hadrons, including the implications of quark arrangement and the significance of spin states.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants inquire whether it is always appropriate to place a bar over the quark symbols of a particle to denote its antiparticle, using the proton and antiproton as examples.
  • There is a suggestion that the neutron's antiparticle should follow the same pattern, leading to the assumption that the antineutron is represented as \bar{u}\bar{d}\bar{d}.
  • One participant proposes a "rule" for quark representation, stating that all quarks in an anti hadron must be anti, and that the order of quarks should start with positive charged quarks from the same generation.
  • Another participant emphasizes that the order of quarks must correlate with other degrees of freedom, particularly spin states, and that changing the order affects the wave function representation.
  • There is contention regarding the interpretation of "representation," with some arguing that the quark content alone does not determine the particle's properties, while others assert that the order of quarks is significant for spin considerations.
  • Participants mention that different conventions may exist regarding quark representation, and that total quark content, mass, and spin are crucial for understanding particle physics.
  • One participant references literature on tensor representations for further clarification on the topic.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the significance of quark order and representation, with no consensus reached on whether the order of quarks affects the identity of the particle or its properties. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the implications of quark arrangement in relation to spin and representation.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include potential misunderstandings of terminology such as "representation" and the implications of quark order on particle properties. The discussion also highlights the complexity of quark interactions and the need for clarity in definitions.

neelakash
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I am asking this question because I did not get it clarified in any of the books I have read.
What is the rule for having the quark structure of an antiparticle given the structure of the particle?Is it always OK to put bar on the quark symbols of the corresponding particle?

Specifically,I know proton is represented as [tex]\ u \ u \ d[/tex] and antiproton as
[tex]\bar{u}\bar{u}\bar{d}[/tex]

Is it true that since neutron is [tex]\ u \ d \ d[/tex], we must have anti neutron:
[tex]\bar{u}\bar{d}\bar{d}[/tex]?

Another thing: Is there any rule for the order of letters while writing the symbol for a particle?In other words, uud or udu or duu---do they mean the same?
 
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In a hadron, all quarks in the anti hadron shall be anti, just as you did with the neutron.

Another example, the anti-particle to the [tex]\pi ^+[/tex], Quark content: [tex]u \bar{d}[/tex], Is [tex]\pi ^+[/tex], Quark content: [tex]d\bar{u}[/tex]. Since [tex]\bar{\bar{u}} = u[/tex] etc.

The "rule" is to start with all quarks in the same generation, e.g (u and d) then (c and s) then (b and t). Then in the same gruop you start with the positive charged quark. Then you have the anti-quarks in the end.

For example, the D meson: [tex]D^+ = c\bar{d}[/tex]

But I think different conventions exists, the important things are the total quark content, Mass, Spin etc. Those are the quantities that determines the physics.
 
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The "rule" is to start with all quarks in the same generation, e.g (u and d) then (c and s) then (b and t). Then in the same gruop you start with the positive charged quark. Then you have the anti-quarks in the end.

For example, the D meson:

But I think different conventions exists, the important things are the total quark content, Mass, Spin etc. Those are the quantities that determines the physics.

I see.Thanks.
 
neelakash said:
Another thing: Is there any rule for the order of letters while writing the symbol for a particle?In other words, uud or udu or duu---do they mean the same?
The order has to be correlated with the other degrees of freedom.
For instance, in the proton, the two u quarks must be in the symmetric spin one state.
If you change uud to udu, then the spin wave function has to be similarly permuted.
 
clem said:
The order has to be correlated with the other degrees of freedom.
For instance, in the proton, the two u quarks must be in the symmetric spin one state.
If you change uud to udu, then the spin wave function has to be similarly permuted.

That does not make sense. It is a difference of writing the representation of the hadron by its quark content as uud , and by writing its state as: |p> = 1/sqrt(18){2|uud> + 2|udu> + ... etc.
 
malawi_glenn said:
That does not make sense. It is a difference of writing the representation of the hadron by its quark content as uud , and by writing its state as: |p> = 1/sqrt(18){2|uud> + 2|udu> + ... etc.
The quark order must be consistent with the spin order. For instance, for the proton
(using a for spin up and b for spin down), a suitable wave function is
|p>=uud(2aab-aba-baa)/\sqrt{6}.
If the quark order is changed to udu, then the last two spins must also be interchanged to give |p>=udu(2aba-aab-baa)/\sqrt{6}.
 
but as I said, you are talking about the wave function. The OP asked about the "REPRESENTATION". In the representation, you don't write the whole wave function, you write the quark content, spin, mass etc.

And if you want the whole wave function, |p>=uud(2aab-aba-baa)/\sqrt{6} is not good enough, it has 9 terms
 
malawi_glenn said:
but as I said, you are talking about the wave function. The OP asked about the "REPRESENTATION". In the representation, you don't write the whole wave function, you write the quark content, spin, mass etc.

And if you want the whole wave function, |p>=uud(2aab-aba-baa)/\sqrt{6} is not good enough, it has 9 terms
Only Neelakash knows what he asked.
I don't know what Malawi means by "representation"
If you just mean the number of each type of quark, the order doesn't matter.
If you mean something more, then the quark order must be correlated with the spin order in each term.
You could write the wave function I gave three permuted times, but then would you do every calculation three times? What I wrote is all you need.
 
Neelakash meant : "Specifically,I know proton is represented as [tex]\ u \ u \ d[/tex]
and antiproton as
[tex]\bar{u}\bar{u}\bar{d}[/tex]"

So what both him and me means with representation is that when looking in particle tables etc, you often only finds the quark content. So what he aksed is "uud and udu" the same particle? And my answer indicated that there are more things than just the quark content that matters, spin etc also plays role. For example the delta+ baryon has the same quark representation (uud) as p, but has a different wave function. So neither him or me was originally talking about wave function, we only disscussed the representation. And the representation follows the convention that I posted..
 
  • #10
neelakash said:
I am asking this question because I did not get it clarified in any of the books I have read.
What is the rule for having the quark structure of an antiparticle given the structure of the particle?Is it always OK to put bar on the quark symbols of the corresponding particle?

Specifically,I know proton is represented as [tex]\ u \ u \ d[/tex] and antiproton as
[tex]\bar{u}\bar{u}\bar{d}[/tex]

Is it true that since neutron is [tex]\ u \ d \ d[/tex], we must have anti neutron:
[tex]\bar{u}\bar{d}\bar{d}[/tex]?

Another thing: Is there any rule for the order of letters while writing the symbol for a particle?In other words, uud or udu or duu---do they mean the same?

My suggestion is to read on Fonda-Ghirardi what is the tensor-Representations for SU(3).
After manypulating this object you'll get your answer.

regards
Marco.

Opps I'm sorry i meant Huang Kerson's Book, if i remeber righ... chapter 2 and the book was: Quark and leptons..
 
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