Particle Physics

Hafsa Aftab Siddiqui

 One of the important concepts of particle physics is
called the Standard Model. The Standard Model is
a theory which tries to explain the fundamental forces.

 The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory

describing three of the four known fundamental forces
(the electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions, and
not including the gravitational force) in the Universe, as
well as classifying all known elementary particles.
 The 12 Fundamental Particles

They are subject to strong Don’t feel the strong

nuclear force nuclear force
 Strangeness

Strangeness is the name given to the fifth quantum number. It was postulated
(discovered) in 1953, by M. Gell-Mann, T. Nakano and K. Nishijima, each working
independently. The next year it was clearly demonstrated experimentally. It is a property
of subatomic particles, and only applies to those known as hadrons, which include
protons, neutrons, pions, kaons, and lambda, omega, and rho particles, among others.
The symbol for strangeness is S.
The strangeness of a particle is the sum of the strangeness of its component quarks. Of
the six flavors of quarks, only the strange quark has a nonzero strangeness. The
strangeness of nucleons is zero, because they only contain up and down quarks and no
strange (also called sideways) quarks. We can find the strangeness of a particle by using
the law of conservation of strangeness.
 Annihilation
Annihilation is a reaction in which a particle and
its antiparticle collide and disappear, releasing energy. The
most common annihilation on Earth occurs between
an electron and its antiparticle, a positron. A positron, which
may originate in radioactive decay or, more commonly, in the
interactions of cosmic rays in matter, usually combines
briefly with an electron to form a quasi-atom
called positronium. The quasi-atom is composed of the two
particles spinning around each other before they annihilate.
After the annihilation, two or three gamma rays radiate from
the point of collision.
The amount of energy (E) produced by annihilation is equal
to the mass (m) that disappears multiplied by the square of
the speed of light in a vacuum (c)—i.e., E = mc2. Thus,
annihilation is an example of the equivalence of mass and
energy and a confirmation of the theory of special relativity,
which predicts this equivalence.
 **Fermions
Fermions are particles which have

Bosons
half-integer spin and therefore are
constrained by the Pauli exclusion
principle. Particles with integer spin
are called bosons.

Bosons are particles which have integer spin and which therefore are not constrained by
the Pauli exclusion principle like the half-integer spin fermions. The energy distribution of
bosons is described by Bose-Einstein statistics. The wavefunction which describes a
collection of bosons must be symmetric with respect to the exchange of identical
particles, while the wavefunction for a collection of fermions is antisymmetric.
At low temperatures, bosons can behave very differently than fermions because an
unlimited number of them can collect into the same energy state. The collection into a
single state is called condensation, or Bose-Einstein condensation. It is responsible for the
phenomenon of superfluidity in liquid helium. Coupled particles can also act effectively as
bosons. In the BCS Theory of superconductivity, coupled pairs of electrons act like bosons
and condense into a state which demonstrates zero electrical resistance.
Bosons include photons and the characterization of photons as particles with frequency-
dependent energy given by the Planck relationship allowed Planck to apply Bose-Einstein
statistics to explain the thermal radiation from a hot cavity.
 Conservation of properties

• Particle reactions follow the

laws of: • Particle reactions conserve:
 Charge  Electric charge
 Momentum  Lepton number
 Angular Momentum  Baryon number
 Energy  (Strangeness)