The discussion revolves around the structure of protons in terms of quarks and their representation under the SU(3) group, focusing on the fundamental representation of quarks, the specific quark combination that defines a proton, and the concept of multiplets. It includes theoretical aspects and conceptual clarifications regarding quark combinations and their implications for particle identity.
Participants express differing views on the nature of quark combinations and their implications for particle identity. There is no consensus on the specific reasons for the proton's quark structure or the implications of different SU(3) representations.
Some discussions touch on the historical development of quark theory and the necessity of quark combinations to satisfy quantum numbers, but these points remain unresolved and depend on further clarification of definitions and assumptions.
This discussion may be of interest to those studying particle physics, particularly in understanding the role of quarks in baryon structure and the implications of SU(3) symmetry in particle classification.
This is not true : the valence part of the proton, which determines its quantum numbers (so its unique identity) is exactly uud, but there is more to the proton. There is an infinite tower of additional Fock state, or if you will as much vacuum fluctuations as you can wish for if you look "close enough" (at short distances).faen said:
We always proceed by trials and errors. You can not expect that we knew historically about quarks before we knew about protons. Given quarks, the minimal combination considering all quantum numbers is uud. That is what we call valence part of the wavefunction.faen said:
malawi_glenn said:
blechman said:
malawi_glenn said:
faen said: