String Theory: Types of Particles

By Andrew Zimmerman Jones and Daniel Robbins from String Theory For Dummies
Physicists have found a large number of particles, and one thing that proves useful is that they can be broken
down into categories based on their properties. Physicists have found a lot of ways to do this, but here are
some of the most relevant categories to string theory.
According to quantum mechanics, particles have a property known as spin. This isnt an actual motion of the
particle, but in a quantum mechanical sense, it means that the particle always interacts with other particles as if
its rotating in a certain way.
In quantum physics, spin has a numerical value that can be either an integer (0, 1, 2, and so on) or half-integer
(1/2, 3/2, and so on). Particles that have an integer spin are called bosons, while particles that have halfinteger spin are called fermions.

Particles of force: Bosons

Bosons, named after Satyendra Nath Bose, are particles that have an integer value of quantum spin. The
bosons that are known act as carriers of forces in quantum field theory, as the photon does in this figure. The
Standard Model of particle physics predicts five fundamental bosons, four of which have been observed:

Photon

Gluon (there are eight types of gluons)

Z boson

W boson (actually two particles the W+ and W bosons)

Higgs boson (this one hasnt been found yet)

In addition, many physicists believe that there probably exists a boson called the graviton, which is related to
gravity. Composite bosons can also exist; these are formed by combining together an even number of different
fermions.
For example, a carbon-12 atom contains six protons and six neutrons, all of which are fermions. The nucleus
of a carbon-12 atom is, therefore, a composite boson. Mesons, on the other hand, are particles made up of
exactly two quarks, so they are also composite bosons.

Particles of matter: Fermions

Fermions, named after Enrico Fermi, are particles that have a half-integer value of quantum spin. Unlike
bosons, they obey the Pauli exclusion principle, which means that multiple fermions cant exist in the same
quantum state.
While bosons are seen as mediating the forces of nature, fermions are particles that are a bit more solid and
are what we tend to think of matter particles. Quarks are fermions.
In addition to quarks, there is a second family of fermions called leptons. Leptons are elementary particles that
cant (so far as scientists know) be broken down into smaller particles. The electron is a lepton, but the
Standard Model of particle physics tells us that there are actually three generations of particles, each heavier
than the last.
The three generations of particles were predicted by theoretical considerations before they were discovered by
experiment, an excellent example of how theory can precede experiment in quantum field theory.

Also within each generation of particles are two flavors of quarks. This table shows the 12 types of
fundamental fermions, all of which have been observed. The numbers shown are the masses, in terms of
energy, for each of the known particles. (Neutrinos have virtually, but not exactly, zero mass.)

Elementary Particle Families for Fermions

Quarks
First Generation

Second Generation

Third Generation

Leptons

Up Quark

Down Quark

3 MeV

7 MeV

Charm Quark

Strange Quark

1.2 GeV

120 MeV

Top Quark

Bottom Quark

174 GeV

4.3 GeV

Electron Neutrino

Electron
0.5 MeV

Muon Neutrino

Muon
106 MeV

Tau Neutrino

Tau
1.8 GeV

There are also, of course, composite fermions, made when an odd number of fermions combine to create a
new particle, such as how protons and neutrons are formed by combining quarks.

TypesofParticle

Belowaresomeverybriefdetailsofdifferenttypesofparticlementionedthroughoutthiswebsite.
Althoughthisisbynomeansadefinitivedescriptionofeachoftheparticles,itshouldserveasa
basicoutlinetothoseunfamiliarwithanyoftheparticleswhichtheymaycomeacrossthroughout
thissite.Furtherdetailscanbefoundinanygoodparticlephysicstextbookorwebsite.

Baryon
Baryonsareparticlesmadeupof3quarks(seebelow)
Examplesincludetheproton(p),neutron(n)

Kaon(K)
Kaonsaremesons(seebelow)
Leptons
Therearethreetypesofchargedlepton:theelectron,muonandtauparticle.Eachofwhichhasan
associatedneutrino:theelectronneutrino,themuonneutrinoandthetauneutrino.Moreoverfor
eachleptonthereisanantiparticle,thepositron,theantimuonandantitau.Eachofthesehas
associatedwithitanantineutrino.Thepropertiesofeacharesummarisedbelow:

PARTICLE

SYMBOL

MASS

ELECTRIC CHARGE

0.511 MeV
0MeV

-1
0

electron neutrino

e
ne

muon

105.7MeV

-1

muonneutrino

nm

0Mev

tau

1784MeV

-1

tauneutrino

nt

0MeV

electron

SPIN
/2
/2

/2
/2
/2
/2

Mesons
Mesonsareparticlesmadeupofaquark(seebelow)andanantiquark(whichisessentiallyaquark
butwithoppositecharge)
ExamplesofmesonsaretheKaon,Pion,Psiparticles

Muons

Muonsareleptons.Theyhaveachargeof1(electroncharge).Themuonis200timesmore
massivethantheelectron.Mostoftheparticlesdetectedbythesparkchamberaremuons,asthey
areverypenetrating,andhavealonglifetime.

Neutrino
Thesearemassless*particles,whichhavenocharge.Therearemany,manymillionsofneutrino's
intheatmosphere.TheirmainsourceisthoughttobefromtheSun.

*Muchexperimentalworkiscurrentlybeingdonetodetermineiftheneutrinoisinfactmassless.It
issuspectedthattheneutrinomayhaveavery,verysmallmass,whichwhenaddedupoverallthe
neutrinosintheatmosphere,couldamounttoalargeamountofmass.Thismayconstitutethe
sourceofsomeofthesocalled'DarkMatter'presentintheuniverse.

Pions
Alsoknownaspimeson.Thepionisanelementaryparticleclassifiedasameson.Thepioncanbe
positively,negativelyorneutrallycharged.TheChargedpionsdecayintomuonsandneutrinos.
Theneutralpionsconvertdirectlyintophotons:
Positrons
Theseareidenticalparticlestoelectrons,havingthesamecharacteristics.Theonlydifferencebeing
thattheyarepositivelycharged

Quarks
Oneofthefundamentalconstituentswhichmakeupmatter.Perhapsitisbesttogiveanexample:

Itiswellknownthatanatomisthoughttobemadeupofneutrons,protonsandelectrons.Ifyou
couldprobetoseewhataprotonoraneutronconsistedof,youwouldfindthateachweremadeup
ofthreesmaller,constituentparticlescalledquarks.

Therearesixquarks(eachwithitsownflavour)whichareknowntoexist:up(u),down(d),strange
(s),charm(c),bottom(b)andtop(t).

Ingeneralparticleswithhalfintegerspin(Fermions)aremadeupofthreequarks,particleswith
integerspin(Bosons)aremadeupofquarkantiquarypairs.Forexample,theprotonismadeofa
twouquarksandonedquark,theneutronconsistsoftwodquarksand1uquark.Thepositively
chargedpionconsistsofauquarkandanantidquark.

Theproton,neutron,andpionarebynomeanstheonlyparticleswhicharemadeofquarks.All
stronglyinteractingparticles,knownasbaryonsormesons,aremadeofquarks.

Elementary Particles :

Readings
:

particle
physics
fundament
al forces
quarks

particle physics is the search for the fundamental building blocks of Nature, a reductionist goal

elementary particles should be structureless, resulting in simple interactions

more advanced technology lead to the discovery of hundreds of new particles, forcing t
particles to something simpler

Generations of Matter:

the two most fundamental types of particles are quarks and leptons

the quarks and leptons are divided into 6 flavors corresponding to three generations of matter

quarks (and antiquarks) have electric charges in units of 1/3 or 2/3's

leptons are a separate class since they do not interact with quarks by the strong force

leptons have charges in units of 1 or 0

the up and down quark, electron and neutrino (leptons) work together to form normal,

note that for every quark or lepton there is a corresponding antiparticle. For example,
and an anti-neutrino

Fundamental Forces :

Matter is effected by forces or interactions (the terms are interchangeable)

there are four fundamental forces in the Universe:

o gravitation (between particles with mass)
o electromagnetic (between particles with charge/magnetism)
o strong nuclear force (between quarks)
o weak nuclear force (that changes quark types)

Bosons (Force Carriers):

certain particles play and important role in the transfer of force, the bosons or force carriers

the use of virtual particles to carry force resolves the action at a distance problem

Baryons and Mesons:

the large number of new particles discovered in the 1950's is resolved by quark model

quarks are fundamental building blocks to baryons and mesons, coming together as triplets or pairs

quarks have 1/3 charge and bind through the exchange of gluons of the strong force

the many particles of atomic nuclei become a simple combination of quarks

unlike electric charge, quarks bind by exchanging color charge of three colors, blue, red

gluons carry color to convert quarks

due to their fractional charge nature, quarks cannot exist in isolation

the strong force binds quarks like a rubber band force

if energy is used to split a quark pair, new quarks are produced, this is how matter was

List of Particles

Standard Particles

This is a list of all the particles in the current standard model of particle physics and
two hypothetical particles that most physicists expect will be discovered: graviton
and Higgs. (See also the graphical Particles chart.)
All particles are either fermions or bosons.
Fermions. (half-integer spin 1/2, 3/2, 5/2, etc.) Matter is made of fermions.
Fermions obey the exclusion principle; they cannot be in the same place at the same
time.
Bosons. (integer spin 0, 1, 2, etc.) Forces are carried by bosons with non-zero spin.
Bosons do not obey the exclusion principle; they can pass right through each other.
Elementary particles. Elementary particles are not composed of other particles. The
elementary fermions are the quarks and leptons. The elementary bosons are the
photon, W and Z bosons, gluon, graviton, and Higgs.
Quarks. (spin 1/2) The protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom are made of
quarks. There are six types or "flavors" or quarks: down, up, strange, charm, bottom,
and top. Each comes in three "color" charges: red, green, and blue.

Leptons. (spin 1/2) The six leptons are the electron and its two heavier sisters, the
muon and tau, and the three lightweightneutrinos, the electron neutrino, muon
neutrino, and tau neutrino.
Graviton. (spin 2) Gravitons [predicted] carry the gravity force.
Gluon. (spin 1) Gluons carry the strong force, also called the nuclear force or color
force. The strong force holds quarks together.
W and Z bosons. (spin 1) W and Z bosons carry the weak force. The weak force is
responsible for radioactivity.
Photon. (spin 1) Photons carry the eletromagnetic force. Photons are particles of
light. Light is an electromagnetic wave.
Higgs. (spin 0) The Higgs boson [predicted] is an excitation the Higgs field. The
Higgs field gives other particles their inertial mass.
Electroweak W and B bosons. (spin 1) W1, W2, W3, and B bosons carry the
electroweak force. When the electroweak force split into the electromagnetic and
weak forces, the W1, W2, W3, B, and Higgs remixed to make W, Z, photon, and Higgs.
Composite particles. Composite particles (hadrons) are composed of other particles.
The main types of composite particles are the baryons and the mesons.
Baryons. (spin 1/2, 3/2) Baryons are fermions composed of three quarks. The most
important baryons are the two nucleons: theproton (up-up-down quarks) and
the neutron (up-down-down quarks). Some other baryons are the sigma, lambda, xi,
delta, and omega-minus.
Mesons. (spin 0, 1) Mesons are bosons composed of a quark and antiquark. Some
mesons are the pion, kaon, eta, rho, omega, and phi.
Antiparticles. All particles have a corresponding anti-particle that is identical in
many ways but opposite in others; for example, the mass and spin are the same but
the charge is opposite. An uncharged particle may be its own anti-particle.

Chirality. Particles may have left-handed or right-handed spins.

Hypothetical Particles

There are many new theories, such as supersymmetry theory, supergravity theory,
and superstring theory, that postulate additional particles that are not in the
standard model of particle physics. Here are some:
Supersymmetric partners. Every standard particle may have a superpartner particle:
a fermion for each boson and a boson for each fermion.
Standard Fermions

spin

Partner Bosons

spin

quark

1/2

squark

electron

1/2

selectron

neutrino

1/2

sneutrino

Standard Bosons

spin

Partner Fermions

spin

graviton

gravitino

3/2

gluon

gluino

1/2

W, Z

wino, zino

1/2

photon

photino

1/2

Higgs

Higgsino

1/2

Other particle names used in supersymmetry:

sparticle: the supersymmetric partner of any particle.
slepton: the partner of a lepton (electron or neutrino).
gaugino: the partner of a gauge boson (photon, W, Z, or gluon).
electroweak wino and bino: the partners of electroweak bosons (W and B).
neutralino: a mixture of neutral particles (photino, zino, and Higgsino, or electroweak
wino, bino, and Higgsino).
chargino: a mixture of charged particles (wino and Higgsino).
Strings. String theory postulates that all elementary particles are really tiny strings
with different vibration modes.

Sterile neutrino. A particle that has no interactions except gravity.

Graviton variations. The spin 1 graviphoton and the spin 0 graviscalar (also known as
the radion or dilaton).
Axion. A particle proposed to expain the the absence of an electrical dipole moment
for the neutron. Supersymmetry adds the axino and saxion.
Goldstone boson. A type of spin 0 particle that that is necessary wherever there is a
broken symmetry. Supersymmetry adds the goldstino and sgoldstino. The majoron is
a type of Goldstone boson.
X and Y bosons. Particles mediating a grand unified force, analogous to the W and Z
bosons.
Mirror particles. Particles with left/right (parity) opposite of known particles.
Magnetic monopoles. North and south monopoles, analogous to positive and negative
charged particles. Some theories also propose a magnetic photon.
Tachyon. A particle that travels faster than light and backward in time.
Exotic baryons. Fermions composed of three quarks plus other particles. The
pentaquark has five quarks.
Exotic mesons. Bosons composed of other particles, but not merely two quarks. The
tetraquark has four quarks. The glueball is composed of gluons.

Quasi-particles and other non-particles

Many quantized states are not real particles, but are conveniently named and treated
as if they were real particles. Some are the quantized modes of collections of
particles.
Soliton. A stable solitary wave packet arising from a combination of waves. Solitons
are found in many physical phenomena, large and small.

Phonon. A quantized sound wave.

Electron hole. The absence of a negatively-charged electron in a semiconductor,
treated as if it were a positively-charged particle.
Cooper pair. A pair of electrons (fermions) in a superconductor, treated like a single
boson.
Exciton. A bound state of an electron and an electron hole.
Magnon. A quantized spin wave.
Plasmon. A quantized plasma oscillation.
Polaron. A quantized polarization field.
Landau quasiparticle. In a normal metal.
Stoner excitation. In a ferromagnetic metal.
Bogoliubov quasiparticle. In a superconductor.

Particles chart (PDF) | elements.wlonk.com

Keith Enevoldsen