What are the

Elementary
Constituents
of Matter?
What are the forces
that control their
behaviour at the
most basic level?
History of Constituents of
Matter

AD
•In Nuclear Reactions momentum and mass-
energy is conserved – for a closed system the
total momentum and energy of the particles
present after the reaction is equal to the total
momentum and energy of the particles before the
reaction

•In the case where an alpha particle is released

from an unstable nucleus the momentum of the
alpha particle and the new nucleus is the same as
the momentum of the original unstable nucleus
Wolfgang Pauli
n0  p1e1 0
1 1 0 __ 0

•Large variations in the emission velocities of the 

particle seemed to indicate that both energy and
momentum were not conserved.
•This led to the proposal by Wolfgang Pauli of another
particle, the neutrino, being emitted in  decay to carry
away the missing mass and momentum.
•The neutrino (little neutral one) was discovered in 1956.
 n0  p1e1 0
1 1 0 __0
1.008665 u 1.007825 u 0.0005486 u

1u= 1.660 10 27 kg

1J= 1.6 10 19 eV
Mass difference  1.008665  (1.007825  0.0005486 )
 0.0002914 u

 0.0002914 1.660 10 27 kg

31 kg
 4.83724 10
 E  mc 2

 (4.837241031)(3.0 108 ) 2J
 4.353516 10 14 J
4.353516  10 14
 19
 271755eV
1.602  10
 0.272 MeV
It has been found by experiment that the emitted beta particle
has less energy than 0.272 MeV
Neutrino accounts for the ‘missing’ energy
+

+
 Cockroft and Walton
•First artificial splitting of
nucleus
•First transmutation using
artificially accelerated John Cockcroft Ernest Walton

particles
•First experimental verification
of E = mc 2

Irish Nobel Prize

E.T.S. Walton 1951

Experimental verification of E = mc 2

1H  3 Li  2 He  2 He  Energy
1 7 4 4

1 MeV 17.3 MeV

Proton + Lithium Two alpha particles + Energy

• Ancient Greeks:
Earth, Air, Fire, Water
• By 1900, nearly 100
elements
• By 1936, back to three
particles: proton, neutron,
electron
 CERN LEP APPLET
http://www.hep.ucl.ac.uk/masterclass/Acc_sim2/simulator.html
The Four Fundamental Forces
 20

Forces
Electro- Weak Strong Gravity
magnetic
atoms beta falling
molecules decay nuclei objects
optics planet
electronics solar particles orbits
telecom. fusion stars
galaxies

inverse short short inverse

square law range range square law

±
photon W , Z0 gluon graviton

Institute of Physics Peter Kalmus Particles and the Universe

 E
m 2
c

Particle
zoo
 11
Feel weak force
Neutrinos “predicted”  later discovered
100,000,000,000,000 per second pass
through each person from the Sun

Equal and opposite properties

Antiparticles “predicted”  later discovered
Annihilate with normal particles
Now used in PET scans

Many new particles created

1950s, 1960s in high energy collisions

Convert energy to mass. Einstein E = mc2

> 200 new “elementary” (?) particles

Institute of Physics Peter Kalmus Particles and the Universe
Thomson (1897): Discovers electron

1x10 10 m

1x10 15 m

0.7 x10 15 m

 0.7 x10 18 m

 _
27 Co28 Ni  1e 0 
60 60 0 0

Q = -1e almost all trapped in atoms

Q= 0 all freely moving through universe

Just as the equation x2=4 can have two
possible solutions (x=2 OR x=-2), so
Dirac's equation could have two
solutions, one for an electron with
positive energy, and one for an electron
with negative energy.

Dirac interpreted this to mean that for

every particle that exists there is a
corresponding antiparticle, exactly
matching the particle but with opposite
charge. For the electron, for instance,
there should be an "antielectron" called
the positron identical in every way but
with a positive electric charge.
  
 e e
1928 Dirac predicted existence of antimatter
1932 antielectrons (positrons) found in
conversion of energy into matter
1995 antihydrogen consisting of antiprotons and
positrons produced at CERN
In principle an antiworld can be built from
antimatter
Produced only in accelerators and
in cosmic rays
 rays  e   e 
 
e  e  2hf
 2
Q
3 Q  1

Q
1 Q0
3
 James Joyce

Murray Gell-Mann
 1 2
 
3 3
1 2
 
3 3
1 2
 
3 3
 12

Today’s building blocks

2 2 1
    1
3 3 3
Leptons Quarks proton = u u d
(do not feel strong force) (feel strong force) 2 +2/3
1 1
+2/3
  -1/3
0 = +1
2 3 3 3

electron e- -1 up u +2/33
neutron = u d d
e
1
e-neutrino 0 down d -1/3

3
+2/3 -1/3 -1/3 = 0

4 particles very simple First generation

multiply by 3 (generations)
multiply by 2 (antiparticles)
http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/applist/q/q.htm