The bottom quark is one of six types of quarks in the Standard Model of particle physics. It has a charge of -1/3e and is heavier than up, down, strange, and charm quarks.
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The bottom quark is also known as the 'beauty' quark.
It was discovered in 1977 by the Fermilab E288 experiment led by Leon M. Lederman.
Bottom quarks are typically produced in high-energy collisions such as those in particle accelerators.
They decay primarily via the weak interaction, often into charm or up quarks.
The bottom quark's mass is approximately 4.18 GeV/c^2.
Review Questions
What is the electric charge of a bottom quark?
In what year and where was the bottom quark discovered?
Through which fundamental force does the bottom quark primarily decay?
Related terms
Quark: A fundamental constituent of matter that comes in six flavors: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom.
Weak Interaction: One of the four fundamental forces; it is responsible for processes like beta decay and flavor changes in particles.
Standard Model: A theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions) and classifying all known elementary particles.