Rho meson

In particle physics, a rho meson is a short-lived hadronic particle that is an isospin triplet whose three states are denoted as
ρ+
,
ρ0
 and
ρ−
. Along with pions and omega mesons, the rho meson carries the nuclear force within the atomic nucleus. After the pions and kaons, the rho mesons are the lightest strongly interacting particle, with a mass of 775.45±0.04 MeV for all three states.

Rho meson
StatisticsBosonic
FamilyMesons
InteractionsStrong, Weak, Gravitational and Electromagnetic
Symbol
ρ+
,
ρ0
, and
ρ−
Antiparticle

  • ρ+
    :
    ρ−

  • ρ0
    : self
Types3
Mass~770 MeV/c2
Mean lifetime~4.5×10−24 s
Decays into

  • ρ±
    :
    π±
     +
    π0

  • ρ0
    :
    π+
     +
    π−
Electric charge

  • ρ±
    : ±1 e

  • ρ0
    : 0 e
Color charge0
Spin1
Isospin

  • ρ±
    : ±1

  • ρ0
    : 0
Hypercharge0
Parity-1
C parity-1

The rho mesons have a very short lifetime and their decay width is about 145 MeV with the peculiar feature that the decay widths are not described by a Breit–Wigner form. The principal decay route of the rho mesons is to a pair of pions with a branching rate of 99.9%.

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