Baryons with Up, Down, Strange and Bottom Quarks and Highest Spin (J=3/2)

Contact: Kurt Riesselmann
kurtr@fnal.gov
630-840-3351
DOE/Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Baryons with Up, Down, Strange and Bottom Quarks and Highest Spin (J=3/2)

Caption: Baryons are particles made of three quarks. The particles can exist in a ground state (J=1/2) and an excited state (J=3/2). The CDF experiment discovered the positively charged Sigma-sub-b and the negatively charged Sigma-sub-b in both spin configurations. The graphic shows the various three-quark combinations with J=3/2 that are possible using the three lightest quarks -- up, down and strange -- and the bottom quark. Past experiments discovered all of the baryons made of light quarks. The CDF discovery is the first observation of baryons with one bottom quark and spin J=3/2. Theory predicts four more such particles to exist. There are additional baryons involving the charm quark, which are not shown. The top quark, discovered at Fermilab in 1995, is too short-lived to become part of a baryon.

Credit: Fermilab

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