Mesons Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is one of six in the Particle Series. Each cache is a
stand-alone cache. These caches are inspired by on-going research
at CERN labs in Switzerland.
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the
world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific
research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the
Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s
largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study
the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles.
By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists
learn about the laws of Nature.
Mesons of spin 0 form a nonet
In particle physics, mesons are subatomic particles composed of one
quark and one antiquark. All mesons are unstable, with the
longest-lived lasting for only a few 100-millionths (10-8) of a
second. Mesons have a physical size, with a radius a little smaller
than the size of a proton or neutron (i.e. one femtometer: 10-15
m). Charged mesons decay (sometimes through intermediate particles)
to form electrons and neutrinos. Uncharged mesons may decay to
photons. Mesons are not produced by radioactive decay, but appear
in nature only as short-lived products of cosmic ray interaction
with matter—a typical high-energy interaction between
particles made of quarks (in cosmic ray interactions, these are
ordinary protons and neutrons). Mesons are also frequently produced
in high-energy particle accelerators that collide protons,
anti-protons, or other particles containing quarks.
Ordinary mesons are made up of a valence quark and a valence
antiquark. Because mesons have spin of 0 or 1 and are not
themselves elementary particles, they are composite bosons.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)