List of mesons
This article contains a list of mesons, unstable subatomic particles composed of one quark and one antiquark.
Because of this, they can act as force mediating particles on short distances, and thus play a part in processes such as the nuclear interaction.
They are classified according to their quark content, total angular momentum, parity, and various other properties such as C-parity and G-parity.
Each meson has a corresponding antiparticle (antimeson) where quarks are replaced by their corresponding antiquarks and vice versa.
[5] The, "f", "a", "b" and "h" mesons are not listed in the tables below and their internal structure and quark content is a matter of ongoing investigation.
Values in red have not been firmly established by experiments, but are predicted by the quark model and are consistent with the measurements.
Makeup is missing small CP–violating term (see notes on neutral kaons below).
There are two complications with neutral kaons:[38] Note that these issues also exist in principle for other neutral flavored mesons; however, the weak eigenstates are considered separate particles only for kaons because of their dramatically different lifetimes.
K +
) into three pions (2
π +
, 1
π −
) is a process that involves both weak and strong interactions .
Weak interactions : The strange antiquark (
s
) of the kaon transmutes into an up antiquark (
u
) by the emission of a
W +
boson ; the
W +
boson subsequently decays into a down antiquark (
d
) and an up quark (
u
).
Strong interactions : An up quark (
u
) emits a gluon (
g
) which decays into a down quark (
d
) and a down antiquark (
d
).