Why Do Up & Down Quarks Have Different Charge?

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Up quarks possess a charge of +2/3 elementary charge, while down quarks have a charge of -1/3 elementary charge. This charge assignment, established by Gell-Mann and Zweig, was designed to ensure the correct charge pattern for hadrons. The current understanding integrates this charge distribution with the three colors of the color SU(3) in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), which is essential for maintaining consistency in the Standard Model and avoiding chiral anomalies in the weak gauge group SU(2) x U(1).

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Is there a simple explanation for why up & down quarks have different charge?
 
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When "quarks" were invented by Gell-Mann and Zweig, they were simply associated the charges (2/3 elementary charges for the up, -1/3 for the down quark) such that the correct charge pattern for the hadrons resulted. See,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eightfold_Way_(physics)

for the SU(3)-constituent-quark model.

Nowadays this charge pattern, together with the 3 colors of the color SU(3) underlying QCD, make the Standard Model consistent in avoiding a chiral anomaly of the weak gauge group ##\mathrm{SU}(2)_{\text{wiso}} \times \mathrm{U}(1)_{\text{Y}}.##
 
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