BOTTOM QUARK Meaning and
Definition
-
The bottom quark, also known as the beauty quark, is one of the six types of elementary particles in the standard model of particle physics. It is categorized as a fundamental fermion and has a fractional electric charge of -1/3. The bottom quark is considered to be a heavy quark, possessing a mass of around 4.18 GeV/c², which is nearly 130 times greater than the mass of a proton.
The bottom quark is known for its relatively long lifetime, calculated to be approximately 1.5 × 10⁻¹² seconds, before it transforms through the weak nuclear force into an up or down quark. Due to its substantial mass, it primarily decays into lighter quarks, usually a charm or down quark, through the emission of a W boson.
The bottom quark exhibits the property of strong interaction, which means it interacts predominantly through the strong nuclear force. This characteristic enables bottom quarks to form bound states with antiquarks, giving rise to particles known as bottom mesons or B mesons.
The discovery of the bottom quark in experiments conducted at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in 1977 significantly contributed to the understanding of quark physics. Presently, studies involving bottom quarks continue to play a vital role in the exploration of phenomena such as CP violation and the search for new physics beyond the standard model.
Common Misspellings for BOTTOM QUARK
- vottom quark
- nottom quark
- hottom quark
- gottom quark
- bittom quark
- bkttom quark
- blttom quark
- bpttom quark
- b0ttom quark
- b9ttom quark
- bortom quark
- boftom quark
- bogtom quark
- boytom quark
- bo6tom quark
- bo5tom quark
- botrom quark
- botfom quark
- botgom quark
Etymology of BOTTOM QUARK
The word "bottom" in "bottom quark" refers to the fact that it is one of the six types or flavors of quarks. The term "bottom" was chosen to follow a pattern where quarks are ordered based on their increasing mass. The names of the quarks are derived from the physics community's colloquial and descriptive language rather than having a specific etymological origin. The bottom quark was called so to distinguish it from the "up" quark, and it was first proposed by theorists Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa in 1973, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008 for their contributions to understanding quark mixing.
Infographic
Add the infographic to your website:
