Particles

Spin. Spin is a quantum property of

particles. Bosons have integer spin.
Fermions have half-integer spin.
A particle with non-zero spin has
left- or right-handed chirality.

Everything is made of particles.

Electric Charge. Each particle has

positive, negative, or zero electric charge.
Color Charge. A quark has one of three
color charges called red, green, or blue.
An anti-quark has an anti-color.
A gluon has a color and an anti-color.

Symbol
Spin

Name
(Flavor)

up
___ MeV

e+

Electric
charge
Color
charge

Antiparticles. Each particle has

an antiparticle with the same mass
and spin, but opposite charge.
A particle with no charge may be
its own antiparticle.
Mixtures. Some elementary particles
are mixtures (linear superpositions)
of other elementary particles.

Mass (electron volts)

Hypothetical. Postulated particles

that many physicists expect will be
discovered.

Elementary Particles

This shows all the elementary particles in the standard model (SM) of particle physics plus the hypothetical graviton.

Fermions

Fermions

half-integer spin 12 32
Matter is made of fermions.
Fermions obey the exclusion principle.

u d u u
d
d

proton
uud

d u u d
u
d

neutron
udd

u
1

generation
II

up

171175 GeV

strange

GUT scale
1016 GeV

Weak force

Flavor change
radioactivity

EW scale
102 GeV

bottom

electron

muon

511 keV

tau

106 MeV

1.8 GeV

electron
neutrino

muon
neutrino

tau
neutrino

<1 eV?

<1 eV?

Gravitational
force

graviton

Color force
quarks/gluons attract

Electroweak

4.14.4 GeV

Strong force

80130 MeV

masses attract

Grand
Unification

top

1.11.4 GeV

spin

Gauge Bosons
Force Carriers

Planck
scale
1019 GeV

Bosons

integer spin 0 1 2
Forces are carried by gauge bosons.
Bosons do not obey the exclusion principle.
Gravitational
force
Quantum
Gravity

4.1-5.7 MeV

<1 eV?

Bosons

III

charm

2 1.73.1 MeV

down

Leptons

electron
e

nucleus

Quarks

Atom

spin

Electromagnetic
force

massless

gluon

massless

Scalar
Bosons

Higgs field(s)
creates mass, breaks symmetry

Weak
Isospin

Wi
W

charges attract/repel,
light

Strong
force

Weak
force

massless

80 GeV 91 GeV

photon

Weak
Hypercharge

massless

Electromagnetic
force

massless

Higgs field

Higgs

Higgs

124-127 GeV

Unified forces split by symmetry breaking.

Electroweak symmetry breaking
Other elementary particles may yet be discovered.
Supersymmetry (SUSY) proposes that every elementary particle has a superpartner.
String theory proposes that all elementary particles are actually tiny vibrating strings.

Composite Particles Hadrons

Composite particles are composed of two or more elementary particles. This shows some of the hundreds of known composite particles.

Composite Fermions Baryons

Composite Bosons Mesons

Baryons are fermions composed of three quarks.

This shows only the baryons made of u, d, and s quarks.
spin 12 octet
p proton
n neutron
sigma
lambda
xi

p+ uud

n0 udd

p+

+ uus 0 0 uds dds

0 uss
++ uuu

spin 32 decuplet
delta
sigma
xi
omega-minus

+ uud

*+ uus

ddd

*0 uds * dds

*0 uss

* dss

sss

proton
938 MeV

n0

dss
0 udd

Mesons are bosons composed of a quark and an antiquark.

This shows only the mesons made of u, d, and s quarks.

neutron
940 MeV

u u
d

uud
u d
d

spin 0 nonet
pion
eta
K kaon

K0

nucleons

du

spin 1 nonet
rho
omega
phi
K kaon

K*0

ss

su

K
0
K*+

ds

0
K*

su

ss

K
*0

pion

ud

sd

us

0 0 uu
/dd

du

us

0 uu
/dd

0
K

udd

K+

ds

135 MeV

u u

uu
/dd

mixture

Pions carry
the nuclear
force between
nucleons.

ud

sd

2005-2014 Keith Enevoldsen elements.wlonk.com