Neutron Decay (IMAGE)
Caption
A neutron decays into a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino. In the QCD lattice approach, a discrete space is used for the calculation. The different colours on the lattice represent the gluons and quark-antiquark pairs, which are part of the QCD vacuum. The large spheres depict the neutron and the proton. Each sphere is comprised of three quarks (red, green, and blue): Neutrons have two down quarks and one up quark ('up' and 'down' are just names denoted as 'flavors'. They have nothing to do with the actual direction of the quarks). At the red-white intersection, one of the quarks switches its flavour from up to down, which results in the neutron transforming into a proton. During this process, an electron (marked "e"/straight solid line) and antineutrino (marked by the Greek letter 'nu' with an overline/dashed line) are emitted.
Credit
Evan Berkowitz
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