Composition | Elementary particle |
---|---|
Statistics | Fermionic |
Generation | First |
Interactions | Strong, Weak, Electromagnetic force, Gravity |
Symbol | u |
Antiparticle | Up antiquark ( u ) |
Theorized |
Murray Gell-Mann (1964) George Zweig (1964) |
Discovered | SLAC (1968) |
Mass | +0.7 −0.5 MeV/c2 2.3 |
Decays into | Stable or Down quark + Positron + Electron neutrino |
Electric charge | +2/3 e |
Color charge | Yes |
Spin | 1/2 |
Weak isospin | LH: +1/2, RH: 0 |
Weak hypercharge | LH: +1/3, RH: +4/3 |
The up quark or u quark (symbol: u) is the lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle, and a major constituent of matter. It, along with the down quark, forms the neutrons (one up quark, two down quarks) and protons (two up quarks, one down quark) of atomic nuclei. It is part of the first generation of matter, has an electric charge of +2/3 e and a bare mass of 1.8–MeV/c2. Like all 3.0 quarks, the up quark is an elementary fermion with spin 1/2, and experiences all four fundamental interactions: gravitation, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and strong interactions. The antiparticle of the up quark is the up antiquark (sometimes called antiup quark or simply antiup), which differs from it only in that some of its properties have equal magnitude but opposite sign.