Knowra Neutral kaon Neutral kaon A meson made from a down or strange quark and the corresponding antiquark. Its particle and antiparticle states mix, producing short- and long-lived states that decay differently.
Kaon mixing : The quantum-mechanical mixing of neutral kaon particle and antiparticle states during propagation. It turns the flavor states into distinct combinations with different masses and lifetimes.
Strange particle : A hadron containing at least one strange quark, whose production and decay rates historically appeared anomalous. Neutral kaons belong to the strange-particle family that motivated the mixing picture.
Kaon : A family of mesons containing one strange quark or antiquark and one lighter quark or antiquark. Neutral kaons are the electrically neutral members of this meson family.
Kaon physics : The study of kaons, their interactions, and their decays as probes of fundamental particle physics. Neutral kaons are among its most sensitive systems for testing weak interactions.
Charged kaon : A kaon with nonzero electric charge, composed of a strange or antistrange quark and a light partner. Unlike neutral kaons, charged kaons cannot mix with their own antiparticles.
CP violation : A failure of physical laws to remain unchanged under combined charge-conjugation and parity transformations. Neutral kaon decays provided the first observed evidence that this symmetry is violated.
Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula : A relation connecting electric charge, isospin, baryon number, and strangeness for hadrons. Strangeness helped classify kaons and distinguish their strong production from weak decay.
Quark model : A model that describes hadrons as bound states of quarks and antiquarks. It identifies the quark content underlying neutral-kaon particle and antiparticle states.
CPT symmetry : The theorem that local, Lorentz-invariant quantum field theories obey combined charge conjugation, parity, and time-reversal symmetry. Comparing neutral-kaon properties tests stringent consequences of this symmetry.
B meson : A meson containing a bottom quark or antiquark, studied for flavor mixing and CP violation. B mesons provide a heavier, complementary system for testing quark mixing.
Show all 26