Background
Baryons are strongly interacting fermions — that is, they experience the strong nuclear force and are described by Fermi−Dirac statistics, which apply to all particles obeying the Pauli exclusion principle. This is in contrast to the bosons, which do not obey the exclusion principle.
Baryons, along with mesons, are hadrons, meaning they are particles composed of quarks. Quarks have baryon numbers of B = 1⁄3 and antiquarks have baryon number of B = −1⁄3. The term "baryon" usually refers to triquarks – baryons made of three quarks (B = 1⁄3 + 1⁄3 + 1⁄3 = 1). Other exotic baryons have been proposed, such as pentaquarks — baryons made of four quarks and one antiquark (B = 1⁄3 + 1⁄3 + 1⁄3 + 1⁄3 − 1⁄3 = 1), but their existence is not generally accepted. In theory, heptaquarks (5 quarks, 2 antiquarks), nonaquarks (6 quarks, 3 antiquarks), etc. could also exist.
Read more about this topic: Baryon
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