Particle Zoo with Teasers

As a force carrier of the strong interaction I mediate between quarks and am responsible for the binding of the atomic nucleus.

As a force carrier of the electromagnetic interaction I am emitted and absorbed by electrically charged particles.

As a force carrier of the weak interaction, I mediate between either leptons or quarks and I am, among other things, responsible for nuclear decays.

As a force carrier of the weak interaction, I mediate between either leptons or quarks and I am, among other things, responsible for nuclear decays.

As a force carrier of the weak interaction, I mediate between either leptons or quarks and I am responsible for neutral currents.

My field is responsible for the mass of the particles. The stronger the particles interact with my Higgs field, the more mass they get.

I am a hypothetical particle and I have never been observed yet.

I am responsible for the electric current and chemical bonds. In atoms, I move around the nucleus.

I have very similar properties to the electron, but I am 207 times heavier and unstable. I am created when a proton with high energy ejected from the sun hits the atmosphere.

I am 3500 times heavier than the electron and belong to the category heavy weights of elementary particles.

It is almost impossible to stop me and I can transform into a muon neutrino or tau neutrino through the so-called neutrino oscillation.

I can fly through galaxies without losing energy and I can transform into an electron neutrino or tau neutrino through the so-called neutrino oscillations.

I am a ghost particle and I can transform into an electron neutrino or muon neutrino through the so-called neutrino oscillations.

I am the anti-particle of the electron. If we collide, we annihilate into two photons.

I am positively charged and can trap an electron. This creates an exotic atom: Muonium. It consists of me and an electron.

I am the anti-tau, the anti-particle of a tau. The tau and I have opposite electric charge and magnetic moment.

If I were my own anti-particle, this could be detected in the neutrinoless double beta decay.

Every second, at least 70 billion (anti-)neutrinos per square centimeter fly through the human body without any interaction.

Since we rarely interact, we can travel very long distances without being influenced. I could travel through a piece of lead from here to the Alpha Centauri, and not stop.

Like all quarks, I never come alone. Together with the down quarks we form the protons and neutrons, the components of the atomic nucleus.

Like all quarks, I never come alone. I combine with other quarks to form new particles. Together with the up quark and the electron we are the building blocks of matter.

I got my name, Charm, because I complement the theory of quarks particularly charmingly.

I got my name, Strange, because I exist in particles that have a longer life span than expected.

I am the heaviest elementary particle, my rest mass is almost as large as a gold atom. That’s why I decay so fast that I can’t bind with other quarks.

Particles that are composed of me live longer. They also call me Beauty quark.

Quarks and we anti-quarks destroy each other. Anti-matter is almost non-existent in the universe. This is due to an asymmetry at the beginning of the universe.

Anti-matter is matter that consists of anti-particles. Anti-atoms have atomic shells of positrons and atomic nuclei of anti- up and anti- down quarks, which form the anti-protons and anti-neutrons.

I am generated in particle accelerators. Electrically charged particles are accelerated there to high energies. When other particles collide, quarks and anti-quarks can be created.

Like all quarks, I too am a group being and bind with one quark to form a group of two (called a «meson») or with two other anti-quarks to form a group of three (called a «baryon»)

I am too short-lived to form mesons or baryons. My properties are extensively studied as a means to discriminate between competing theories of new physics beyond the Standard Model.

The bottom quark and I play an important role in the search for new effects or particles.

I am a hypothetical particle and I have never been observed yet.