Particles

and
Antiparticles
Elementary Particles
• The particles whose internal structure cannot be described
are called elementary particles. The elementary particles are
believed to be without internal structure.
• British physicist John Dalton identified the most basic objects
called atoms which were supposed to be indivisible i.e.
elementary particles. But later on, J.J Thomson showed that
an atom is composed of electrons and nucleus. In this way,
until 1932 it was considered that an atom is composed of only
3 particles i.e. electron ,proton and neutron.
• Scientists have evidence that proton and neutron are
themselves made up of even smaller particles, called quarks.
So, protons and neutrons are also not considered as
elementary particles.
Historical background of the
elementary particles
• The search of the formation of the universe is the
understanding of the elementary particles .The Greek
philosopher Democritus and Leucippus in around 400 BC
suggested that the matters are made up of the indivisible
(fundamental) particles called the atoms . In 18th century
the existence of the atom in the matter was
experimentally confirmed by John Dalton .But in the 19th
century it was clear that the atoms was not the
fundamental components and there are many subatomic
constituents of the atom . In fact the proton, electron and
neutron were only the building block of the matters . The
research has found out that there are more than 200
elementary particles .
Classification of the elementary
particles
•Classification
(i) Fermions = have mass and are the
building blocks of matter
(ii) Bosons = less mass and behave as force
carriers for fermions interactions.
Fermions
1. ½ integral spin
2. obeys the Pauli exclusion principle (no two
identical fermions can simultaneously occupy the
same quantum state) and follows the Fermi Dirac
statistics (type of quantum statistics that applies
to the physics of a system consisting of many non-
interacting, identical particles that obey the Pauli
exclusion principle)
3. Wave function is antisymmetric.
Bosons
1.integral spin
2.does not obey Pauli exclusion principles and the
follows the Bose-Einstein statistics
3.Wavefunction is symmetric
• BOSONS are further divided into NESON and
FIELD BOSONS
Some the elementary particles
• Electron
• Positron
• Photons
• Proton
• Antiproton
• Neutron
• Antineutron
• Neutrino
• Antineutrinos
Characteristic properties of the
elementary particles
•Mass : Elementary particles always have same rest mass . If two
elementary particles have different mass they cant be considered as
the same elementary particles.
•Charge: All elementary particles have their own charge either positive,
negative or even zero.
•Life time: Most of the elementary particles are unstable and undergo
decay . Some of the elementary particles such as proton,
electron ,photoneutrinos are stable.
•Spin: Most of the elementary particles spin like that of the earth on its
axis but it is different in few of the cases
•Magnetic moment: some of the elementary particles have their own
magnetic moment.
•Interaction: Four kinds of the interactions are known in the
Particles and Antiparticles
• The antiparticle of a particle is that entity which
has the same mass, spin, and lifetime if unstable,
but its charge(if any) has the opposite sign.
• Dirac was the first person who predicted the
existence of antiparticle and according to him
each particle should have an antiparticle.
• Later on, Anderson discovered the positron in
1932 which was the antiparticle of electron.
Some particles and antiparticles pair are presented below

The energy of antiparticles was predicted by relativistic

quantum mechanics.
 Antimatter
Matters
s
• Combinati • Combinatio
on of n of
particles antiparticle
s
Hydrogen and
Antihydrogen
• Hydrogen is made
of a proton and an
electron.
• Antihydrogen
. is
made of an
antiproton and a
positron.
Some particle-antiparticles pair
1. Electron and positron
• Antiparticle of electron is positron.
• Discovered by Carl D. Anderson in 1932.
• Mass and spin of positron are same but the
charge and lepton number are opposite to that of
electron.
• When a positron and electron collide, they
annihilate and produce photons.
2. Proton and antiproton
• Antiparticle of proton is antiproton.
• Discovered in 1955 by Emillo Segre and Owen
Chamberlain in cosmic radiation.
• The mass and spin of antiproton are same but
charge and baron number are opposite to that of
proton.
3. Neutron and antineutron
• Antiparticle of neutron is antineutron.
• Discovered by Bruce Cork in 1956.
• Have same mass and zero charge
• Differ from each other by baron number
4. Neutrino and antineutrino
• Antiparticle of neutrino is antineutrino.
• Both are chargeless particles and have very small
mass.
• Neutrino has anticlockwise spin.
• Antineutrino has clockwise spin.
Lepton (Greek meaning is the lightest particle)

• do not have measurable size or internal structure

and cannot be further broken into smaller
constituents i.e. they are elementary particles.
• Respond to weak, gravitational and
electromagnetic interactions and have a mass
lesser than that of nucleons.
• All are fermions of spin ½.
• Has electric charges of either (-1e) or zero.
Leptons
The muon and the tau are
not stable i.e. they will
decay into other particles.
Electrons are stable, while
the behavior of neutrino is
even more complicated.
Each lepton has a lepton
number +1, where each
antilepton has a lepton
number -1. All baryons
have lepton number of 0
and all leptons have a
baryon number of zero.
Example: electron is a
lepton so it has lepton
number +1 while baryon
Neutrino (named by Enrico
Fermi)
• A fundamental particle that undergoes weak interaction is
called neutrino.
• Being nearly massless, they can travel at nearly speed of
light.
• Neutral fundamental particles.
• They are of three types i.e. tau neutrino, electron neutrino
and muon neutrino.
• Also called ghost particles because they are the most
difficult to detect that have ever been directly observed.
• Spin value of ½
• They are fermions, antiparticles are antineutrinos and are
neutral.
Quarks
• Elementary particles that make up hadrons are
called quarks.
• Quark model was proposed by Murray Gell-Mann
and G.Zweig in 1963.
• Originally named quark after the sound made by
ducks.
• Have fractional electric charge value +2/3 or-1/3
e.
• They are charged so they interact via
electromagnetic force as well as strong force.
Classification of quarks
• There are six types of quarks and each quark has
its own antiquark.
Mediator Particles
• Mediator particles are those particles which carry
the forces acting on matter and antimatter.
• Also called force carriers.
• These particles carry the four basic forces in the
nature which are the electromagnetic, the
gravitational, the strong and the weak.
• Strong force holds quarks together to form nucleons as well as
nucleus of atom.
The electromagnetic force acts between electric charges as well
as magnetic charges. It is responsible for holding electrons and
protons together in atoms. It is even responsible for binding
atoms together in solids. Any contact force between macroscopic
bodies(e.g. friction) arises from electromagnetic interactions
between the charged particles in those bodies.

The weak force acts between all particles. It is responsible for the
radioactive decay of nuclei. The gravitational force, the weakest
force in the nature, acts between any two masses. It is the force
responsible for holding planetary systems together and of course
of earth’s gravity.
Hadrons
• Any particle composed of quarks is called a
hadron.
• The term hadron in Greek means “heavy”,
”strong” so hadrons are heavy particles that
interact via the strong nuclear force and hence
they are said to be strongly interactive particles.
• They include nucleons(neutron and proton), pions
and a large number of other particles.
• They are divided into two sub groups.
(i). Baryons
(ii). Mesons
Baryon
• Hadrons composed of three quarks are called baryons.
• They are the heaviest particles including nucleons.
• They have half integral spins (1/2, 3/2….......) and are therefore
fermions.
• They have masses equal to or more than that of nucleon mass.
• The lightest baryon is the proton.
• Baryons heavier than nucleons are collectively called hyperons, which
respond to weak, strong and electromagnetic interactions.
• There are four types of hyperons :
(i) omega hyperon(Ω−)
(ii) sigma hyperon Σ +Σ 0Σ −
(iii) lambda hyperon Λ 0
(iv) xi hyperon or cascade hyperon
Baryon number(B)
• Baryon number is an approximate conserved
quantum number of a system.
• Particles without any quarks or antiquarks have a
baryon number of zero. For examples : leptons,
photon have zero baryon number.
• Each baryon is given a baryon number B=1 and
B=-1 for all antibaryons.
• Each quark has B=1/3 and -1/3 for antiquarks.
Mesons
• Hadrons composed of one quark and one
antiquark are called mesons.
• In Greek, meson means middle i.e. it has a mass
intermediate between that of an electron and the
proton.
• They are unstable.
Members of mesons
• There are 3 members belonging to the mesons
which are:
(i) Pions: Also called -meson(pi-meson). They are
the lightest mesons. It comes in three charge
states : +,- or 0 and correspondingly pions are
called positive pion, negative pion and neutron
pion.
(ii)Kaon: also called K meson. It comes in 2 charge
states :+ or 0 and correspondingly called
positive kaon and negative kaon.
(iii)Eta meson : it comes in only one charge state
‘0’.
Composition of baryons
• Baryon is made up of 3 quarks. Its baryon number
is +1. Let us consider some examples:
1. Proton :The proton is made up of two up quarks
and one down quark i.e. P = uud. Since a proton
has charge +1e and B=+1 so the total charge
and baryon number for (uud) should be
conserved.
Total charge of uud =+ e + e - e
u u d
= +1e
Total baryon number (B) = ++ =1
Antiproton : It is made of two antiup and one
antidown quarks i.e. =
Its charge is -1e and B=-1

Total charge of = - e - e + e =-1e

Total baryon number (B)= - e - e = -1
2. Neutron : It is made up of two d quarks and one u
quark.
i.e. n= uud
Total charge of uud = = e e - e =0
Total baryon number (B) = + = 1

Antineutron : It is made up of two antidown quarks and

one antiup quark.
i.e. =
Its charge is zero and B is -1.
Total charge of uud = =- e + e + e =0
Total baryon number (B) = - - = - 1
3. Omega particle () : Its spin is It is made of three
strange quarks. i.e. = sss
For
q= -1e and B=1
For sss,
q= - e - e = -1e
B= + + =1
Composition of mesons : It is made up of one quark and one antiquark. Its
baryon number is zero. Examples :
(i) Pion (-meson) : Its spin is zero. -meson may be either positive (negative
(
meson : it is made of one up quark and one antidown quark
i.e. meson = u
For , q=+1e and B=0.
For the u pair,
q= e+ e = +1e
B= -
meson : it is made of one antiup quark and one down quark.
i.e. meson =
For , q=-1e and B=0.
For the pair,
q=- e+(- e) = -1e
B=-
meson : It is made of a mixture of up and down with their antiquarks.
ii. Kaon (K-meson)
meson : It is made of one up quark and another antistrange
quark. i.e. meson = u
For , q=+1e and B=0.
For the u pair,
q=+ e+ e = +1e
B= -
meson : It is a
For , q=-1e and B=0.
For ,
q= - e- e = -1e
B= -
 meson : It is a d
For , q=0 and B=0.
For d,
q= - e+ e = 0
B=
(iii). Eta meson : it is made up of mixture of up, down and
strange and their antiquarks.

Question : your friend thinks proton is a fundamental particles.

Is he correct?