Relation With Chirality
Fermions with negative chirality (also called left-handed fermions) have T = 1⁄2 and can be grouped into doublets with T3 = ±1⁄2 that behave the same way under the weak interaction. For example, up-type quarks (u, c, t) have T3 = +1⁄2 and always transform into down-type quarks (d, s, b), which have T3 = −1⁄2, and vice-versa. On the other hand, a quark never decays weakly into a quark of the same T3. Something similar happens with left-handed leptons, which exist as doublets containing a charged lepton (e−, μ−, τ−) with T3 = −1⁄2 and a neutrino (ν
e, ν
μ, ν
τ) with T3 = 1⁄2.
Fermions with positive chirality (also called right-handed fermions) have T = 0 and form singlets that do not undergo weak interactions.
Electric charge, Q, is related to weak isospin, T3, and weak hypercharge, YW, by
Read more about this topic: Weak Isospin
Famous quotes containing the word relation:
“Any relation to the land, the habit of tilling it, or mining it, or even hunting on it, generates the feeling of patriotism. He who keeps shop on it, or he who merely uses it as a support to his desk and ledger, or to his manufactory, values it less.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)