Abstract
The quantum states “neutron” and “proton” are another two-state effective-spin system, called an isospin doublet. We first answer why we need isospin and discuss its role in nuclear physics. We then generalize the concept of isospin, and introduce the quantum numbers flavor and color of particle physics. For neutrinos and neutral mesons, a phenomenon called flavor oscillations is observed. Neutron–antineutron oscillations could also be allowed, but have not been observed, yet.
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Dubbers, D., Stöckmann, HJ. (2013). Two-State Systems in Nuclear and Particle Physics. In: Quantum Physics: The Bottom-Up Approach. Graduate Texts in Physics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31060-7_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31060-7_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-31059-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31060-7
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