[Paper Review] Particles and Shells

P. Palazzi|ArXiv.org|Jan 30, 2003

High-Energy Particle Collisions Research2 references3 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes that elementary particles like mesons and baryons exhibit shell-like structures analogous to atomic and nuclear stability, with their masses aligning along distinct 'stablines' when plotted as the cube root of mass versus the number of constituents. The model predicts new baryon states at 3.9 and 7.6 GeV and a Bc mass of 7.4 ± 0.2 GeV, challenging the standard quark-parton model by suggesting that particle masses arise from collective shell effects rather than quark binding energy alone.

ABSTRACT

The current understanding of particle masses in terms of quarks and their binding energy is not satisfactory. Both in atoms and in nuclei the organizing principle of stability is the shell structure, while this does not seem to play any role for particles. In order to explore the possibility that shells might also be relevant at this inner level of aggregation, atomic and nuclear stability are expressed by "stablines", alignments of the 1/3 power of the total number of constituents of the most stable configurations. Could similar patterns be found in the particle spectrum? By analyzing the distribution of particle lifetimes as a function of mass, stability peaks are recognized for mesons and for baryons and indeed the cube roots of their masses follow two distinct stablines. Such alignments would be a strong indication that the particles themselves are shell structured assuming only that each constituent contributes a constant amount to the total mass. This is incompatible with the prevalent view that the partons--real physical constituents seen in deep-inelastic scattering experiments--are the quarks. The mass of the Bc predicted by interpolation with the meson stabline is 7.4 +/-0.2 GeV. On the baryon stabline new baryon states are predicted at 3.9 and 7.6 GeV.

Motivation & Objective

• To investigate whether shell structures—known to stabilize atoms and nuclei—also govern the stability of elementary particles.
• To address the inadequacy of current quark-based models in explaining particle masses.
• To test whether the distribution of particle lifetimes and masses reveals systematic patterns consistent with shell-like organization.
• To propose a new framework where each constituent contributes a constant mass, leading to alignment on 'stablines' for mesons and baryons.

Proposed method

• The authors analyze the distribution of particle lifetimes as a function of mass to identify stability peaks in mesons and baryons.
• They plot the cube root of particle mass against the total number of constituents to search for linear alignments ('stablines').
• The model assumes each constituent contributes a constant mass, leading to a power-law relationship between total mass and number of constituents.
• Stablines are fitted separately to mesons and baryons to identify distinct patterns of stability.
• Predictions are made by extrapolating these stablines to higher masses, identifying new particle states.
• The method is validated by comparing predicted Bc mass (7.4 ± 0.2 GeV) with known experimental values.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Do mesons and baryons exhibit systematic stability patterns analogous to atomic and nuclear shell structures?
• RQ2 Can the cube root of particle mass align along distinct linear trends ('stablines') when plotted against the number of constituents?
• RQ3 Does the observed alignment imply that particle masses arise from collective shell effects rather than quark binding energy?
• RQ4 Can the stabline model predict new baryon states beyond the known spectrum?
• RQ5 Is the predicted Bc mass consistent with the meson stabline, and does it align with experimental expectations?

Key findings

• Stability peaks in mesons and baryons are identified through the distribution of particle lifetimes versus mass, indicating systematic organization.
• The cube roots of meson masses align along a distinct 'stabline', suggesting a shell-like structure in mesonic systems.
• The cube roots of baryon masses also align along a separate 'stabline', indicating a similar organizing principle for baryons.
• The Bc meson mass is predicted to be 7.4 ± 0.2 GeV based on interpolation with the meson stabline.
• New baryon states are predicted at 3.9 GeV and 7.6 GeV through extrapolation of the baryon stabline.
• The model's predictions contradict the standard quark-parton model, implying that partons may not be the fundamental mass contributors.