Why does binding energy affect the mass of quarks, but not protons and neutrons?

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the relationship between binding energy and mass in quarks compared to protons and neutrons. Participants explore theoretical implications and the nature of strong interactions, addressing concepts of mass, binding energy, and confinement in particle physics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions why binding energy seems to create mass for quarks but depletes mass for protons and neutrons.
  • Another participant seeks clarification on the phrases used regarding mass creation and depletion.
  • It is noted that the mass of a proton is significantly greater than the mass of its constituent quarks, while the mass of an atom is less than the sum of its parts.
  • Some participants suggest that binding energy can be either additive or subtractive, indicating uncertainty in understanding these concepts.
  • A participant explains that the strong interaction differs from gravity and electromagnetism, as it increases in strength with separation, leading to the creation of new quark-antiquark pairs rather than simply separating quarks.
  • Another participant expresses curiosity about whether galaxies exhibit binding energy that affects their mass.
  • There is mention of ongoing experiments at the LHC aimed at proving the origin of mass, with a claim that quarks and gluons are massless, though this step remains unproven.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the implications of binding energy on mass, with no consensus reached on the relationship between these concepts for quarks and nucleons.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge the complexity of binding energy and its effects, with some points remaining speculative and dependent on ongoing research and experimental validation.

precisionart
Messages
20
Reaction score
0
Why is it that the binding energy creates mass in the case of quarks but depletes mass in the case of protons and neutrons? Am i mistaken?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Please clarify your question.
creates mass in the case of quarks
and
depletes mass in the case of protons and neutrons
.

What do mean by those phrases?
 
The mass of a proton is significantly greater than the mass of its constituent quarks. the mass of an atom is less than its constituent parts.
 
In potential models, the total mass of the constituent quarks is usually larger than the nucleon mass. Also, the q-q potential has a positive part to produce confinement, then the PE can go either way.
 
so binding energy can be additive or subtractive. I am not clear on your answer (due to my own ignorance).
 
With gravity and electromagnetism, the interaction strength decreases as you separate two objects. It takes only a finite amount of energy to separate two objects, actually we can even say that the amount of energy is quite small compared to the mass of the objects. A bound state therefore must exist at a lower potential energy than the constituents, else it would quickly decay.

However the strong interaction is completely different, the strength of the interaction actually increases as you separate two quarks. If you attempt to separate two quarks, you will continue to add energy to the system until you actually add enough for a new quark-antiquark pair to be created. Instead of separating the system into a pair of quarks, you will have instead created two hadrons. The condition for our original configuration of quarks to be a bound state is only that the total energy of that configuration is less than the total energy of the pair of hadrons that we would create by attempting to pull a quark out the configuration. Hence there's no contradiction with the fact that the binding energy creates mass.
 
Thank you Fzero. I suspected that this was the correlation.

Do galaxies exhibit a binding energy at all, whereby there mass is affected?
 
quarks + gluons ------> particle(neutron, proton)
---no mass------------------mass
This step has not been proved yet.
Current LHC experiment is done to prove the origin of the mass.
Quark and gluon have no mass.
 

Similar threads

High School Why don't neutrons bind into large out of control masses?
  • · Replies 28 ·
Replies
28
Views
3K
Undergrad Some confusion with the Binding Energy graph of atoms
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
3K
Undergrad Does strong force increase or decrease with aligned spins?
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
Undergrad Understanding the mass of ordinary matter
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
2K
High School Is Comparing Binding Energy and Mass to Kinetic and Potential Energy Valid?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
Undergrad How Does Binding Energy Relate to Nucleon Distance in Atomic Nuclei?
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
3K
Undergrad Is Toponium a Reality Despite Top Quark's Rapid Decay?
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K
Undergrad Question about gluons and nucleon binding
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
High School Why Is Binding Energy Subtracted in Nuclear Mass Calculations?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
High School How much energy do you need to split up a proton?
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
4K