Baryon/Talk

My references say that baryons are elementary particles, they consist of quarks and cannot be broken down. Mesons also fit this description.

Two web sources for you to examine - [1] and [2]

Also my dictionary says: Hadron Pronunciation: (had'ron), [key] —n. Physics.
any elementary particle that is subject to the strong interaction. Hadrons are subdivided into baryons and mesons. Cf. quark.

All the sources I've seen don't call baryons as elementary particles, because they are composites, even if they can't be physically ripped apart. I would guess the usage varies, and so suggest that they not be called elementary.

Give some citations - I'm sure we can sort it out. I've given three, but I acknowledge that they are all quoting generalist literature. By the way, the link to boson simply redirects to particle physics... surely they deserve their own article. - MMGB

Elementary refers to any particle which is not composed of smaller particles. "Broken down" is not meant in a physical sense. There are exactly 16 elementary particles known to date: 6 quarks, 6 leptons, and 4 gauge bosons (not including antiparticles or gluon flavors). The jury is still out on the Higgs boson and the graviton. See http://www.neutron.anl.gov/hyper-physics/Particles.html for a good diagram -- Xaonon

Well I guess this is a case where infoplease got it wrong - some other sources I have checked confirm this position. If/When? we have an article on elementary particles this confusion should be addressed directly.

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Someone mentioned that mesons may be a superposition of quark-antiquark pairs, but I think it would be less confusing and more accurate to describe them as a pair where each of the quark and antiquarks may be in a superposition of states (colors and generations). Does this sound fair?