Weak Quanta

 Textile fragment, Chancay people. Pre-Hispanic Peru, 51 x 38 cm. Photograph by D Dunlop.

Consider a particle P described by a repetitive chain of events like

$\Psi ^{\sf{P}} = \left( \sf{\Omega}_{1}, \sf{\Omega}_{2}, \sf{\Omega}_{3} \; \ldots \; \right)$

where the sensations in each repeated cycle are objectified as some bundle of quarks such as

$\sf{\Omega} ^{\sf{P}} = \left\{ \sf{q}_{1}, \sf{q}_{2}, \sf{q}_{3} \; \ldots \; \right\}$

Definition: P is called a weak quantum if it satisfies all of the following conditions.

1. P must be strange. That is, up and down seeds are not completely balanced against each other when distributed between ordinary-quarks and anti-quarks. So $S \ne 0$, strangeness is not neglibible and there is some net internal energy associated with up-quarks that gives P a lot of momentum.
2. P has a mass that is imaginary or nil. So P is very different from a Newtonian particle.
3. P must be neutral. So $q = 0$ and P is inconspicuous.
4. P is a meson with a lepton number of $L = 0$ and a baryon number of $B = 0$.

A particle that satisfies all of these conditions is usually written using the symbol $\sf{w}$. Weak quanta are elusive and difficult to observe. The momentum they carry impart forces that seem to come from nowhere. For a specific examples consider the bundles of quarks $\sf{\Omega}$ listed in the following table.

 Quark Coefficients
 Particle u d e g m a t b s c u d e g m a t b s c $\hat{\sf{w}}$ 4 4 $\hat{\sf{w}}_{ \sf{n}}$ 4 6 1 8 6 1 $\sf{w} ( \pi^{\circ} )$ 4 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 $\sf{w} ( \pi^{+} )$ 4 48 35 44 2 2 3 2 8 4 48 34 43 1 $\sf{w} ( \sf{n})$ 4 8 48 3 52 3 2 4 48 3 52 4 4 1

The foregoing quark coefficients determine the quantum numbers of weak quanta as shown in the table below.

 Characteristics of Weak Quanta
 Particle σ L B q S m $\hat{\sf{w}}$ -1 0 $\hat{\sf{w}}_{ \sf{n}}$ -0.5 0 $\sf{w} ( \pi^{\circ} )$ -1 imaginary $\sf{w} ( \pi^{+} )$ -1 imaginary $\sf{w} ( \sf{n} )$ 1 1 imaginary