The structure of quarks and leptons
Scientific American, (April 1983)Abstract
Standard models of the basic known forces and elementary particles are
reviewed, with an attempt to describe the constituent particles making
up quarks and leptons. Gauge theory models and strong, electroweak, and
gravitational forces afecting quarks and leptons and the gauge bosons
which carry forces between them. Currently, all known forms of matter
can be modeled on the basis of 18 colored quarks and six leptons, with
matter interactions being attributed to exchanges of 12 gage bosons,
i.e., the photon, eight gluons, and three weak bosons. However, the
model is valid only down to distances of 10 to the -16th cm. A prequark
model features particles called preons that are the constituents of
quarks and leptons. The primary preons are rishons (Hebrew for primary),
one with a + 1/3 chharge and the other neutral. The preons are bound
together by a hypercolor force carried by hypergluons. Difficulties in
extending the prequark theory to chiral symmetry among massless
particles, which can experience spontaneous symmetry breaking, are
considered.