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Concept
Charm (quantum number)
Summary
Charm (symbol C) is a flavour quantum number representing the difference between the number of charm quarks (_charm quark) and charm antiquarks (_Charm antiquark) that are present in a particle:
By convention, the sign of flavour quantum numbers agree with the sign of the electric charge carried by the quarks of corresponding flavour. The charm quark, which carries an electric charge (Q) of +, therefore carries a charm of +1. The charm antiquarks have the opposite charge (Q = −), and flavour quantum numbers (C = −1).
As with any flavour-related quantum numbers, charm is preserved under strong and electromagnetic interaction, but not under weak interaction (see CKM matrix). For first-order weak decays, that is processes involving only one quark decay, charm can only vary by 1 (ΔC= ±1,0). Since first-order processes are more common than second-order processes (involving two quark decays), this can be used as an approximate "selection rule" for weak decays.
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PHYS-416: Particle physics II
Presentation of the electroweak and strong interaction theories that constitute the Standard Model of particle physics. The course also discusses the new theories proposed to solve the problems of the
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Flavour (particle physics)
In particle physics, flavour or flavor refers to the species of an elementary particle. The Standard Model counts six flavours of quarks and six flavours of leptons. They are conventionally parameterized with flavour quantum numbers that are assigned to all subatomic particles. They can also be described by some of the family symmetries proposed for the quark-lepton generations. In classical mechanics, a force acting on a point-like particle can only alter the particle's dynamical state, i.e.
Charge (physics)
In physics, a charge is any of many different quantities, such as the electric charge in electromagnetism or the color charge in quantum chromodynamics. Charges correspond to the time-invariant generators of a symmetry group, and specifically, to the generators that commute with the Hamiltonian. Charges are often denoted by the letter Q, and so the invariance of the charge corresponds to the vanishing commutator , where H is the Hamiltonian. Thus, charges are associated with conserved quantum numbers; these are the eigenvalues q of the generator Q.
Strangeness
In particle physics, strangeness ("S") is a property of particles, expressed as a quantum number, for describing decay of particles in strong and electromagnetic interactions which occur in a short period of time. The strangeness of a particle is defined as: where n_Strange quark represents the number of strange quarks (_Strange quark) and n_Strange antiquark represents the number of strange antiquarks (_Strange antiquark). Evaluation of strangeness production has become an important tool in search, discovery, observation and interpretation of quark–gluon plasma (QGP).