Question about quark flavor change.

[XSerenity]

Hello,

I'm a bit unclear on how the EM, weak, and strong forces can change the flavor of a quark.

EM/Weak Force:
Can you skip a generation (ie. u -> t or b -> d)? Also can you change quark generations with a W (ie, while also changing the quark charge, e.g. u -> s)?

Strong force:
Can the strong force change the type of quark, and if so, what are the rules for this?

 

[kurros]

EM/Weak Force:
Can you skip a generation (ie. u -> t or b -> d)? Also can you change quark generations with a W (ie, while also changing the quark charge, e.g. u -> s)?

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKM_matrix. W's can change quarks from one generation to any other, but they only flip up-types to down-types, or vice versa (due to charge conservation), and not with equal probability. If you want say u->t then that takes two W's, and is incredibly unlikely to happen (even if kinetatically allowed).

Z's do not do anything to quark flavour.

Strong force:
Can the strong force change the type of quark, and if so, what are the rules for this?

No it cannot. The only thing that can change quark flavours in the Standard Model are W bosons.

 

[XSerenity]

Thanks!