Hadrons

thumb|upright=1.5|A hadron is a Composite particle|composite subatomic particle. Every hadron must fall into one of the two fundamental classes of particle, [[bosons and fermions.]]

thumb|An atomic nucleus is shown here as a compact bundle of the two types of nucleons, [[protons (red) and neutrons (blue). In this picture, the protons and neutrons are shown as distinct, which is the conventional view in chemistry, for example. But in an actual nucleus, as understood by modern nuclear physics, the nucleons are partially delocalized and organize themselves according to the laws of quantum chromodynamics.]] In physics and chemistry, a nucleon is either a proton or a neutron, considered in its role as a component of an atomic nucleus. The number of nucleons in a nucleus define

In particle physics, a meson () is a type of hadronic subatomic particle composed of an equal number of quarks and antiquarks, usually one of each, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of quark subparticles, they have a meaningful physical size, a diameter of roughly one femtometre (10 m), which is about 0.6 times the size of a proton or neutron. All mesons are unstable, with the longest-lived lasting for only a few tenths of a nanosecond. Heavier mesons decay to lighter mesons and ultimately to stable electrons, neutrinos and photons.

In nuclear physics and particle physics, isospin is a quantum number related to the up- and down quark content of the particle. Isospin is also known as isobaric spin or isotopic spin. Isospin symmetry is a subset of the flavour symmetry seen more broadly in the interactions of baryons and mesons.

A pentaquark is a subatomic particle, consisting of four quarks and one antiquark bound together. Evidence for the existence of pentaquarks has been found in decays of the Bottom lambda baryon.

classification scheme for hadrons

hadron consisting of more than three quarks

Classification scheme of hadrons

In physics, the pomeron is a Regge trajectory — a family of particles with increasing spin — postulated in 1961 to explain the slowly rising cross section of hadronic collisions at high energies. It is named after Isaak Pomeranchuk.

In particle physics, the odderon corresponds to an elusive family of odd-gluon states, dominated by a three-gluon state. When protons collide elastically with other protons or with anti-protons at high energies, gluons are exchanged. Exchanging an even number of gluons is a crossing-even part of elastic proton–proton and proton–antiproton scattering, while odderon exchange (i.e. exchange of odd number of gluons) corresponds to a crossing-odd term in the elastic scattering amplitude. In turn, the odderon's crossing-odd counterpart is the pomeron.