The Top Quark Revealed

The Sixth [and final?] of the Standard Model

A paper by:

RAdm. RM Wey and Comm. DL Wey

COSR: SFS-SFC DCOSR: SFS-SFC

The evolution of the standard model of the universe, has, over time, developed into somewhat of a major undertaking. Through its evolution, the model has gained some members within its confines.

Currently, there are two ‘sets’ of particles, those constituents of matter, and those transmitters of force. Below is a current list of each…including the newest of the constituents…the TOP quark.

It is these various ‘units’ which form the very matter around us. Long considered to come in pairs, and coined ‘generations’, it was the TOP quark which remained illusive, and required enormous amounts of energy to ferret out.

Even, with enough energy, the actual collisions occur between the internal quarks and gluons of the atoms being annihilated.

So therein lies another problem, or rather, a double edged sword. For as the search for top quarks went on, the need for higher and higher levels of energy increased. However, such collisions are rare in themselves, but as the energy levels of the top mass increased, they become rarer still.

With masses above 170GeV, such an entity would be seen perhaps once in ever billion tries; Its lifetime being only a scant 10^-24 seconds, only to then decay into a W and a bottom quark, not withstanding.

However, the finding of the TOP quark is by no means the end, for no sooner was this particle ‘found’, then it was determined it may not be the final piece of the puzzle after all. It has been put forth that these are elements of supersymmetry[which predicts a ‘group’ of particles categorized as Higgs]consisting of four or more elements[some names have been coined: the STOP(or supersymmetric TOP) gluino, the hypothetical partner of the gluon.

Even the quark may not be sacrosanct, for experiments done in the lab have uncovered the possibility that they may also contain smaller objects within themselves.

As the advancement in detection continues, we may yet achieve the possibility of unraveling the very workings of nature itself.