Fundamentals of Physics Extended (10th Edition)

Published by Wiley
ISBN 10: 1-11823-072-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-11823-072-5

Chapter 44 - Quarks, Leptons, and the Big Bang - Problems - Page 1364: 30a

Answer

It is not possible to construct this baryon using the up, down, and strange quarks only.

Work Step by Step

If the strangeness of the baryon is $-2$, then there must be two strange quarks, each with strangeness $-1$ The strange quark $s$ has charge $-\frac{1}{3}$, strangeness $-1$, and baryon number $+\frac{1}{3}$ Note that the net charge of two strange quarks is $-\frac{2}{3}$ We can only use one more quark since the baryon number of a baryon is $+1$ However, there is no way to make a net charge of $+1$ with only one more quark. Therefore, it is not possible to construct this baryon using the up, down, and strange quarks only.
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