Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Generations

The first generation has up and down (u and d).
The second generation has charm and strange (c and s).
The third generation has top and bottom (t and b).

Not following? Well we are talking of elementary particles. Those are the names given to some of them. Their collective name is quark. If you have heard of proton-and we believe that you have, then a proton has three quarks. Two of u-type, that is, up quarks and one of d-type, that is, down quark. Thus proton is uud. Simple isn't it? And neutron is udd, one up and two down. Simple again, isn't it?

In fact there is a well known blog called Three Quarks Daily. We do not read that much and we shall not give their link. Find them out yourself if you want to indulge in zalamtu nafsi (sinning against yourself).

The long and short of the post is that a research group called D0 (dee--zero) has reported some evidence for a forth generation of quarks. The names for the new generation quarks are even more preliminary. One of them is called a top-prime. Here is paper and here is the first blog report.

No this one is not a rumour.

Update 1: Forgot to mention that evidences many times come and go. Take the present post as an item in a days work.