Antiquark

ANTIQUARK

Contents

Key Stage 5

Meaning

An antiquark is the antiparticle of a quark.

About Antiquarks

• Antiquarks have opposite electric charge and "colour charge" to quarks.
• Combine with other antiquarks to form antibaryons or with quarks to form mesons.
• Quarks and antiquarks are fundamental constituents of matter.

Properties of the antiquarks

Antiquark	Charge/e	Strangeness	Baryon Number	Lepton Number
Antiup-quark	\(Q=-\frac{2}{3}\)	\(S=0\)	\(B=-\frac{1}{3}\)	\(L=0\)
Antidown-quark	\(Q=+\frac{1}{3}\)	\(S=0\)	\(B=-\frac{1}{3}\)	\(L=0\)
Antistrange-quark	\(Q=+\frac{1}{3}\)	\(S=+1\)	\(B=-\frac{1}{3}\)	\(L=0\)
Antitop-quark	\(Q=-\frac{2}{3}\)	\(S=0\)	\(B=-\frac{1}{3}\)	\(L=0\)
Antibottom-quark	\(Q=+\frac{1}{3}\)	\(S=0\)	\(B=-\frac{1}{3}\)	\(L=0\)
Anticharm-quark	\(Q=-\frac{2}{3}\)	\(S=0\)	\(B=-\frac{1}{3}\)	\(L=0\)

Examples

• The antiproton is made up of antiquarks.
• Antiquarks are produced in high-energy particle collisions.