What is the Particles

All particles are either fermions or bosons.

ATOM
nucleus
electron
universe made of? proton u u u d
Bosons uud quarks d d
It is made of particles. Fermions
Atoms are made of particles, Spin 1⁄2, 3⁄2, 5⁄2, ... Spin 0, 1, 2, ... neutron d u u d
light is made of particles, udd quarks d u
Matter is made of fermions. Forces are carried by bosons.
and even gravity is Fermions obey the exclusion Bosons do not obey the
made of particles. principle: they cannot be in the exclusion principle: they can
same place at the same time. pass right through each other.

Fundamental Particles
This shows all the known fundamental particles in the standard model of particle physics
and some hypothetical particles that many physicists expect will be discovered.

u c t Boson Fermion
Fundamental Fermions d s b super- Fundamental Bosons super-
e μ τ partners partners
νe νμ ντ [predicted] [predicted]

particle

particle
partner

partner
electric

electric
symbol

symbol
charge

field or force

charge
super-

super-
family

mass

mass
anti-

anti-
carried
spin

spin

spin

spin
name name by boson
1.5–3.5 ~ electro- ~
u up quark 1⁄ +2⁄3 ¯
u u 0
2 MeV γ photon magnetism 1 0 0 self γ 1⁄
2
1 ~ (light)
1⁄ 3.5–6.0 ¯
d down quark 2 −1⁄ 3 d d 0 ~
MeV
W− W boson weak force −1 80 GeV W+ W 1⁄
~ 1 ~ 2
1.1–1.4 Z boson (radioactivity)
Quarks

c charm quark 1⁄ +2⁄3 ¯

c c 0 Z 0 91 GeV self Z
2 GeV
2 ~ ~
70–130 ¯ strong force
s strange quark 1⁄2 −1⁄3 s s 0 g gluon 1 0 0 self g 1⁄
2
MeV (binds quarks)
170–180 ~
t top quark 1⁄ +2⁄3 ¯
t t 0
2 GeV graviton ~
G gravity 2 0 0 self G 3⁄
3 [predicted] 2
4.1–4.4 ~
b bottom quark 1⁄2 −1⁄3 ¯
b b 0
GeV
higgs field ~
H higgs 0 114–185 self 1⁄
Quarks have three color charges: red, green, & blue. (creates mass) 0 H 2
H− [predicted] −1 GeV H+
[predicted]
511 ~
e− electron 1⁄
2 −1 e+ e 0
keV Antiparticles. Each particle has an antiparticle with the same mass and
1 ~ spin, but opposite charge. A particle with no charge may be its own antipar-
electron <2.2
νe 1⁄
2 0 ν¯e νe 0 ticle. Anti-electrons are called positrons.
neutrino eV
Chirality. Particles may have left-handed or right-handed spins.
~
Leptons

106 Supersymmetry theory proposes a partner boson for each fermion and a
μ− muon 1⁄
2 −1 μ+ μ 0
MeV partner fermion for each boson. The superpartner has the same charge as
2 ~ the standard particle but its spin differs by ½ and its mass is greater. Names
muon <170
νμ 1⁄
2 0 ν¯μ νμ 0 of superpartners: Add “s” for bosons, ex., sfermion, squark, slepton,
neutrino keV
selectron, sneutrino. Add “ino” for fermions, ex., bosino, photino, wino, zino,
1.8 ~ gluino, gravitino, higgsino.
τ− tau 1⁄
2 −1 τ+ τ 0 Superpositions. Some particles are linear superpositions (mixtures) of
GeV
3 other particles. For example, the predicted neutralino is a mixture of the
tau <16 ~
ντ 1⁄
2 0 ν¯τ ντ 0 neutral photino, zino, and higgsino.
neutrino MeV String theory proposes that all fundamental particles are actually tiny
vibrating strings.
Other fundmental particles may yet be discovered.
Composite Particles — Hadrons
Composite particles are composed of other particles, sometimes in complicated ways involving superpositions (mixtures) of particles.
This shows some of the hundreds of known composite particles.

Baryons Mesons
Baryons are fermions composed of three quarks. Mesons are bosons composed of a quark and antiquark.
This shows only the baryons made of u, d, & s quarks. This shows only the mesons made of u, d, & s quarks.
The nucleons are the proton and neutron. Pi mesons carry the nuclear force between nucleons.
sym name quarks charge mass
p proton K0 ds̄ K+ us̄ kaon
p+ uud n0 udd uud +1 938
n neutron udd 0 940
π0/η0 uū/dd̄
spin 1⁄2 Σ+ uus Σ0/Λ0 uds Σ− dds sigma & lambda MeV spin 0 π− dū π+ ud̄ pion & eta
η′0 ss̄
Ξ0 uss Ξ− dss xi K− sū K̄ 0 sd̄ kaon
Δ++ uuu Δ+ uud Δ0 udd Δ− ddd delta
K*0 ds̄ K*+ us̄ kaon
Σ*+ uus Σ*0 uds Σ*− dds sigma ρ0/ω0 uū/dd̄
spin 3⁄2 spin 1 ρ− dū ρ+ ud̄ rho, omega, & phi
Ξ*0 uss Ξ*− dss xi φ0 ss̄

omega-minus K*− sū K̄ *0 sd̄ kaon

Ω− sss
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