Nine lectures on quark structure of light hadrons

TL;DR

This paper presents a focused overview of the quark structure of light hadrons using symmetry principles, excluding models and heavy quark hadrons, as part of a theoretical course on elementary particles.

Contribution

It provides a symmetry-based theoretical framework for understanding light hadrons, distinct from model-based or heavy quark approaches, as part of educational material.

Findings

Symmetry principles effectively describe light hadron structure.

Excludes models and heavy quark hadrons for clarity.

Educational resource for particle physics students.

Abstract

The following lectures concern with the quark structure of hadrons made up from light quarks. The symmetries of strong interaction were the only instruments used for the description of this structure. The models of hadrons (there are a lot of them) were not considered. There was not also considered the structure of hadrons with heavy quarks. The first round of problems (models of hadrons) is not considered because of its unexhaustability. The second round of problems (hadrons with heavy quarks) is not considered because of the physics of heavy flavors tends mainly to electroweak interaction and will be considered in the course of electroweak interactions. Therefore, the presented here course, being the self-bounded part of the theory of elementary particles, is considered separately. These lectures were formed from 1989 and are the part of the set of courses on the theory of fundamental interactions for the students of Moscow Physical Technical Institute. The basic source of the lectures was the unpublished manuscript "Hadrons and quarks" by L.B. Okun. Another source was the "Lectures on the theory of unitary symmetry in elementary particle physics" by Nguen Van Hieu (Atomizdat, Moscow 1967). The list of references (due to its smallness) is absent.