A meson is a particle that consists of a quark and an antiquark. Mesons form a subset of hadrons
The following is a (growing) list of mesons. If you spot an error, feel free to /msg me. If you want to add some, /msg me too, rather than creating a new writeup.
Notes:
- All rest masses are in MeV/c2.
- "Makeup" refers to the constituent quarks (u=up, d=down, s=strange, c=charm, t=top, b=bottom).
- An underlined symbol denotes an antiparticle, which is normally written with a bar over the symbol.
Pion Positive (π+)
Makeup: ud
Rest Mass: 139.6
Charge: +1
Common Decay Modes: π+ -> μ+ + νμ
Pion Zero (π0)
Makeup: (uu+dd)/√2
Rest Mass: 135.0
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: π0 -> 2γ
Pion Negative (π-)
Makeup: ud
Rest Mass: 139.6
Charge: -1
Common Decay Modes: π- -> μ- + νμ
Kaon Positive (K+)
Makeup: us
Rest Mass: 493.7
Charge: +1
Common Decay Modes: K+ -> μ+ + νμ, K+ -> π+ + π0
Kaon Negative (K-)
Makeup: us
Rest Mass: 493.7
Charge: -1
Common Decay Modes: K- -> μ- + νμ, K- -> π- + π0
Kaon Zero Short (K0S)
Makeup: (symmetric mix of ds and ds)
Rest Mass: 497.7
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: K0S -> π+ + π-, K0S -> 2π0
(this meson is weird - someone should do a good writeup in Kaon about it)
Kaon Zero Long (K0L)
Makeup: (antisymmetric mix of ds and ds)
Rest Mass: 497.7
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: K0L -> π+ + e- + νe
(this meson is weird - someone should do a good writeup in Kaon about it)
Eta Zero (η0)
Makeup: (uu + dd - 2ss)/√6
Rest Mass: 548.8
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: η0 -> 2γ, η0 -> 3μ
(this meson is weird - someone should do a good writeup in Eta about it)
Rho Positive (ρ+)
Makeup: ud
Rest Mass: 770
Charge: +1
Common Decay Modes: ρ+ -> π+
(this meson is considered to be an "excited" pion - the spins of the consituent quarks are "aligned")
Rho Negative (ρ-)
Makeup: ud
Rest Mass: 770
Charge: -1
Common Decay Modes: ρ- -> π-
(this meson is considered to be an "excited" pion - the spins of the consituent quarks are "aligned")
Phi (Φ)
Makeup: ss
Rest Mass: 1020
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: Φ -> K+ + K-, Φ -> K0 + K0
D Positive (D+)
Makeup: cd
Rest Mass: 1869.4
Charge: +1
Common Decay Modes: D+ -> K + ?, D+ -> e + ?
D Zero (D0)
Makeup: cu
Rest Mass: 1864.6
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: D0 -> K + ?, D0 -> μ + ?, D0 -> e + ?
D Negative (D+)
Makeup: cd
Rest Mass: 1869.4
Charge: -1
Common Decay Modes: D- -> K + ?, D- -> e + ?
D Positive Strange (D+S)
Makeup: cs
Rest Mass: 1969
Charge: +1
Common Decay Modes: D+S -> K + ?
D Negative Strange (D-S)
Makeup: cs
Rest Mass: 1969
Charge: -1
Common Decay Modes: D-S -> K + ?
J/Psi (J/Ψ)
Makeup: cc
Rest Mass: 3096.9
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: J/Ψ -> e+ + e-, J/Ψ -> μ+ + μ-, J/Ψ -> τ+ + τ-
B Positive (B+)
Makeup: ub
Rest Mass: 5279
Charge: +1
Common Decay Modes: B+ -> D0 + ?
B Zero (B0)
Makeup: db
Rest Mass: 5279
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: B0 -> D0 + ?
B Negative (B-)
Makeup: ub
Rest Mass: 5279
Charge: -1
Common Decay Modes: B- -> D0 + ?
Upsilon (Y)
Makeup: bb
Rest Mass: 9460.4
Charge: 0
Common Decay Modes: Y -> -> e+ + e-, Y -> μ+ + μ-, Y -> τ+ + τ-