Strange B meson
The quark structure of the strange B meson. The color assignment of individual quarks is arbitrary, but the net color charge must be zero. Forces between quarks are mediated by gluons. | |
| Composition | bs |
|---|---|
| Statistics | Bosonic |
| Family | Mesons |
| Interactions | Strong, Weak, Gravitational, Electromagnetic |
| Antiparticle | B s (bs) |
| Mass | 5366.3±0.6 MeV/c2 |
| Mean lifetime | 1.470+0.027 −0.026×10−12 s |
| Decays into | See B0 s decay modes |
| Electric charge | 0 e |
| Spin | 0 |
| Strangeness | -1 |
| Bottomness | +1 |
| Isospin | 0 |
| Parity | -1 |
The B
s meson is a type of unstable subatomic particle known as a meson. It is notable for its observed ability to spontaneously switch into its own antiparticle and back, a rare phenomenon known as particle oscillation.
Because the properties of this oscillation and the particle's other rare decays are very precisely predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics, the strange B meson is of significant interest to scientists. Experiments at facilities like Fermilab and the Large Hadron Collider study the particle to test the limits of the Standard Model and search for new physics. The strange B meson is composed of two elementary particles: a bottom antiquark and a strange quark.