What Makes Quarks' Charmness and Strangeness Unique?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteRhasta
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Quark
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concepts of charmness and strangeness in quarks, specifically addressing the assigned values of these properties for the c quark and s quark. Participants explore the historical context and conventions behind these assignments, as well as their implications in particle physics.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification
  • Historical
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express confusion regarding the strangeness of the s quark, questioning why it is assigned a value of -1 instead of +1.
  • One participant notes that the assignment of strangeness as -1 for the s quark is a historical convention.
  • A later reply explains that the strangeness quantum number was influenced by the properties of the K+ particle, which was assigned a strangeness of +1 before the quark model was established.
  • Another participant humorously relates the situation to the historical assignment of electric charge flow, suggesting that conventions can sometimes lead to seemingly "wrong" assignments.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that the assignment of strangeness is conventional and historically motivated, but there is no consensus on the implications of these conventions or their impact on understanding quark properties.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights the limitations of historical conventions in physics, particularly how early understandings can influence later models, without resolving the implications of these conventions on current theories.

WhiteRhasta
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Ive noticed when we are viewing the quark table in particular its charmness, and strangeness we know; c quark has a charmness of +1, but the strangeness of an s quark = -1. I would like to better understand why. Is it not thought that the s quark has a strangness of +1?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
WhiteRhasta said:
Ive noticed when we are viewing the quark table in particular its charmness, and strangeness we know; c quark has a charmness of +1, but the strangeness of an s quark = -1. I would like to better understand why. Is it not thought that the s quark has a strangness of +1?

It's purely conventional. The reason it was assigned minus one is a historical one.
 
Lol. understandable... I knew there had to be a more as you put "conventional" meaning. It was beginning to really put a damper on the day. Thanks nrged.
 
The reason s has the "wrong-sign" strangeness is because before people understood about quarks, they understood Kaons. There was a particle called the "K+" - as it had electric charge +1, they understandably decided to give it strangeness "+1" as well.

Then along came the quark model, where the "strangeness" quantum number was affiliated with the presence of a strange quark. The only problem was that the K+ was described in the quark model as a (up - ANTIstrange) bound state. So they had to assign the strange quark's strangeness quantum number as -1 to be consistent.

Hey, Ben Franklin decided that the currents flow from positive charge to negative charge. He had a 50-50 chance of being right, and at the time there was no way to measure the charge of the electron (in fact, they didn't even know about electrons!) - so now the convention is set, and currents look like they flow the wrong way! Of course it doesn't really matter, but it's kinda amusing. :wink:

That's the problem when charges are assigned BEFORE people understand what the "fundamental" physics is. But we do what we can.
 
Thats right blechman, and it is rather humorous when you think about the flow of currents and how they have been positioned or assigned through strangeness. As in Ben Franklin's case, Sometimes you've got to learn things the hard way. lol. Thanks for your insight.
 

Similar threads

Undergrad What is the latest discovery in tetraquarks by LHCb?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
Graduate Difference between generations of quarks
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K
Undergrad Strange quarks, Strange stars and Strangelets?
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
Undergrad Is Toponium a Reality Despite Top Quark's Rapid Decay?
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K
Undergrad Why Are B Mesons Long-Lived and How Does B-Tagging Work?
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K
Graduate What New Experiments, If Any, Would Help Determine Light Quark Masses?
  • · Replies 46 ·
2
Replies
46
Views
8K
Undergrad New Naming Rules for Exotic Hadrons at the LHC: LHCb Collaboration Paper (2022)
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K
Undergrad What would a hypothetical quark-quark collision yield?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
Undergrad Is the Melting Quarks Experiment a Scam?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
Undergrad Heavier hydrogen-like bound states?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K