Spin.

Spin is a quantum property of

particles. Bosons have integer spin.
Fermions have half-integer spin.
Particles
A particle with non-zero spin has Everything is made of particles.
left- or right-handed chirality.
Symbol
Electric Charge. Each particle has
positive, negative, or zero electric charge. Spin
1
2 u
Color Charge. A quark has one of three
Name up
color charges called red, green, or blue.
An anti-quark has an anti-color.
(Flavor) ___ MeV
A gluon has a color and an anti-color. Mass (electron volts)
u u
Antiparticles. Each particle has
an antiparticle with the same mass
and spin, but opposite charge.
A particle with no charge may be
e e+
its own antiparticle.
Electric
charge + = Mixtures. Some elementary particles
are mixtures (linear superpositions)
of other elementary particles.
Color
charge
? 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 half-integer spin 12 32 Fermions
Matter is made of fermions. generation
Fermions obey the exclusion principle. spin I II III

u c t

Quarks
1 up charm top
2 1.73.1 MeV 1.11.4 GeV 171175 GeV
Atom e
nucleus - - -
d s b
u d u u proton
d d uud down strange bottom
d u u d neutron 4.1-5.7 MeV 80130 MeV 4.14.4 GeV
u d udd
electron e

Leptons
e
1 electron muon tau
2 511 keV 106 MeV 1.8 GeV

e
electron muon tau
neutrino neutrino neutrino
<1 eV? <1 eV? <1 eV?

Bosons integer spin 0 1 2 Bosons

Forces are carried by gauge bosons.
Bosons do not obey the exclusion principle. spin
Gravitational
force
2 ? G
Gravitational
force

? masses attract graviton

massless
Quantum
Gauge Bosons

Strong force Strong

Force Carriers

Gravity 1 g
?
Color force force
Planck
scale quarks/gluons attract gluon
1019 GeV Grand massless
Unification Weak force Weak
Wi Weak
GUT scale
1 Isospin W Z force
Flavor change
1016 GeV Electro- radioactivity W W Z
weak massless 80 GeV 91 GeV
Weak
EW scale Electromagnetic B Electromagnetic
102 GeV 1 Hyper-
force
force charge
charges attract/repel, B photon
light massless massless
Bosons
Scalar

0
Higgs field(s) 0 H H H Higgs field

creates mass, breaks symmetry 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. Mesons are bosons composed of a quark and an antiquark.
This shows only the baryons made of u, d, and s quarks. This shows only the mesons made of u, d, and s quarks.

spin 12 octet p+ uud n0 udd p+ = u u

d spin 0 nonet K0 K+ 0 = u u

p proton ds us
proton uud pion pion uu
/dd
n neutron + uus 0 0 uds dds 0 0 uu
/dd

938 MeV eta + 135 MeV mixture
sigma du
ud

K kaon 0
lambda 0 uss dss n0 = u d
Pions carry
d ss
xi K 0
K the nuclear
neutron udd su
sd
force between
++ uuu + uud 0 udd ddd 940 MeV
nucleons.
nucleons spin 1 nonet K*0 K*+
spin 32 decuplet ds us
*+ uus *0 uds * dds rho
delta omega 0 0 uu
/dd

sigma +
*0 uss * dss phi du
0 ud

xi K kaon ss
omega-minus sss K* *0
K
su
sd

2005-2014 Keith Enevoldsen elements.wlonk.com