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The particles created in this process (the final state) must each be less massive than the original, although the total mass of the system must be conserved. A particle is unstable if there is at least one allowed final state that it can decay into. Unstable particles will often have multiple ways of decaying, each with its own associated ...
Consequently, the lightest particles containing a strange quark cannot decay by the strong interaction, and must instead decay via the much slower weak interaction. In most cases these decays change the value of the strangeness by one unit. This doesn't necessarily hold in second-order weak reactions, however, where there are mixes of K 0 and K ...
A strange particle is an elementary particle with a strangeness quantum number different from zero. Strange particles are members of a large family of elementary particles carrying the quantum number of strangeness , including several cases where the quantum number is hidden in a strange/anti-strange pair, for example in the ϕ meson .
The strange quark or s quark (from its symbol, s) is the third lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Strange quarks are found in subatomic particles called hadrons. Examples of hadrons containing strange quarks include kaons (K), strange D mesons (D s), Sigma baryons (Σ), and other strange particles.
The decay of a kaon (K +) into three pions (2 π +, 1 π −) is a process that involves both weak and strong interactions. Weak interactions : The strange antiquark (s) of the kaon transmutes into an up antiquark (u) by the emission of a W + boson; the W + boson subsequently decays into a down antiquark (d) and an up quark (u).
The known particles with strange quarks are unstable. Because the strange quark is heavier than the up and down quarks, it can spontaneously decay , via the weak interaction , into an up quark. Consequently, particles containing strange quarks, such as the lambda particle , always lose their strangeness , by decaying into lighter particles ...
Strange quarks are naturally radioactive and decay by weak interactions into lighter quarks on a timescale that is extremely long compared with the nuclear-collision times. This makes it relatively easy to detect strange particles through the tracks left by their decay products.
In particle physics and astrophysics, the term 'strange matter' is used in two different contexts, one broader and the other more specific and hypothetical: [1] [2]. In the broader context, our current understanding of the laws of nature predicts that strange matter could be created when nuclear matter (made of protons and neutrons) is compressed beyond a critical density.