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Encyclopedia > Charge (physics)

In physics, a charge may refer to one of many different quantities, such as the electric charge in electromagnetism or the color charge in quantum chromodynamics. Charges are associated with conserved quantum numbers. In late 16th century William Gilbert defined charge as some thing which when possessed by a body (object) enables it to respond to the electric field and exert electric force. A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Electric charge is a fundamental conserved property of some subatomic particles, which determines their electromagnetic interaction. ... Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field: a field which exerts a force on particles that possess the property of electric charge, and is in turn affected by the presence and motion of those particles. ... In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), color or color charge refers to a certain property of the subatomic particles called quarks. ... Quantum chromodynamics (abbreviated as QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction (color force), a fundamental force describing the interactions of the quarks and gluons found in hadrons (such as the proton, neutron or pion). ... Quantum numbers describe values of conserved quantity in the dynamics of the quantum system. ... For other persons named William Gilbert, see William Gilbert (disambiguation). ...


Formal definition

More abstractly, a charge is any generator of a continuous symmetry of the physical system under study. When a physical system has a symmetry of some sort, Noether's theorem implies the existence of a conserved current. The thing that "flows" in the current is the "charge", the charge is the generator of the (local) symmetry group. This charge is sometimes called the Noether charge. In Abstract Algebra, a generator is defined as follows: Let G be a group and , then a is called a generator and G is a cyclic group. ... In mathematics, continuous symmetry is an intuitive idea corresponding to the concept of viewing some symmetries as motions, as opposed to e. ... Noethers theorem is a central result in theoretical physics that shows that a conservation law can be derived from any continuous symmetry. ... In physics, a conserved current, J, obeys a conservation law. ... In physics, a Noether charge is a physical quantity conserved as an effect of a continuous symmetry of the underlying system. ...


Thus, for example, the electric charge is the generator of the U(1) symmetry of electromagnetism. The conserved current is the electric current. Electric charge is a fundamental conserved property of some subatomic particles, which determines their electromagnetic interaction. ... In mathematics, the unitary group of degree n, denoted U(n), is the group of n×n unitary matrices, with the group operation that of matrix multiplication. ... Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field: a field which exerts a force on particles that possess the property of electric charge, and is in turn affected by the presence and motion of those particles. ... Electric current is the flow (movement) of electric charge. ...


In the case of local, dynamical symmetries, associated with every charge is a gauge field; when quantized, the gauge field becomes a gauge boson. The charges of the theory "radiate" the gauge field. Thus, for example, the gauge field of electromagnetism is the electromagnetic field; and the gauge boson is the photon. Gauge theories are a class of physical theories based on the idea that symmetry transformations can be performed locally as well as globally. ... Gauge bosons are bosonic particles which act as carriers of the fundamental forces of Nature. ... The electromagnetic field is a physical field that is produced by electrically charged objects and which affects the behaviour of charged objects in the vicinity of the field. ... In modern physics the photon is the elementary particle responsible for electromagnetic phenomena. ...


Sometimes, the word "charge" is used as a synonym for "generator" in referring to the generator of the symmetry. More precisely, when the symmetry group is a Lie group, then the charges are understood to correspond to the root system of the Lie group; the discreteness of the root system accounting for the quantization of the charge. In mathematics, a Lie group, named after Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie (IPA pronunciation: , sounds like Lee), is a group which is also a differentiable manifold, with the property that the group operations are compatible with the smooth structure. ... In mathematics, a root system is a configuration of vectors in a Euclidean space satisfying certain geometrical properties. ...


The letter "q" and "Q" are used as symbols for charge. They represent charge in numerous physics equations and formulas. The letter "Q" is derived from the Latin term "quarg". Even though quarg has now been translated to charge in the English language, "Q" is still used in physics. It parallels the use of Greek characters in physics. Coulomb's Law uses both "q" and "Q" in its equations that finds the force between charged particles. F=(kqQ)/r² . (RW)


Examples

Various charge quantum numbers have been introduced by theories of particle physics. These include the charges of the Standard Model: Thousands of particles explode from the collision point of two relativistic (100 GeV per nucleon) gold ions in the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ... The Standard Model of Fundamental Particles and Interactions For the Standard Model in Cryptography, see Standard Model (cryptography). ...

Charges of approximate symmetries: In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), color or color charge refers to a certain property of the subatomic particles called quarks. ... For other uses of this term, see: Quark (disambiguation) 1974 discovery photograph of a possible charmed baryon, now identified as the Σc++ In particle physics, the quarks are subatomic particles thought to be elemental and indivisible. ... In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree n is the group of n by n unitary matrices with determinant 1 and entries from the field C of complex numbers, with the group operation that of matrix multiplication. ... Quantum chromodynamics (abbreviated as QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction (color force), a fundamental force describing the interactions of the quarks and gluons found in hadrons (such as the proton, neutron or pion). ... The weak isospin in theoretical physics parallels the idea of the isospin under the strong interaction, but applied under the weak interaction. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree n is the group of n by n unitary matrices with determinant 1 and entries from the field C of complex numbers, with the group operation that of matrix multiplication. ... Gauge bosons are bosonic particles which act as carriers of the fundamental forces of Nature. ... In physics, the W and Z bosons are the elementary particles that mediate the weak nuclear force. ... Electric charge is a fundamental conserved property of some subatomic particles, which determines their electromagnetic interaction. ...

  • The strong isospin charges. The symmetry groups is SU(2) flavor symmetry; the gauge bosons are the pions. The pions are not fundamental particles, and the symmetry is only approximate. It is a special case of flavor symmetry.
  • Particle flavor charges, such as strangeness or charm. These generate the global SU(6) flavor symmetry of the fundamental particles; this symmetry is badly broken by the masses of the heavy quarks.

Hypothetical charges of extensions to the Standard Model: In physics, and specifically, particle physics, isospin (isotopic spin, isobaric spin) is a quantum number related to the strong interaction and applies to the interactions of the neutron and proton. ... In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree n is the group of n by n unitary matrices with determinant 1 and entries from the field C of complex numbers, with the group operation that of matrix multiplication. ... In particle physics, flavor is a property of a fermion that identifies it, a label that specifies the name of the particle. ... In particle physics, pion (short for pi meson) is the collective name for three subatomic particles: π0, π+ and π−. Pions are the lightest mesons and play an important role in explaining low-energy properties of the strong nuclear force. ... In particle physics, an elementary particle is a particle of which other, larger particles are composed. ... In particle physics, flavor is a property of a fermion that identifies it, a label that specifies the name of the particle. ... In particle physics, strangeness, denoted as , is a property of particles, expressed as a quantum number for describing decay of particles in strong and electro-magnetic reactions, which occur in a short period of time. ... Look up charm in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree n, denoted SU(n), is the group of n×n unitary matrices with unit determinant. ...

  • The magnetic charge, another charge in the theory of electromagnetism. Magnetic charges are not seen experimentally in laboratory experiments, but would be present for theories including magnetic monopoles.

In the formalism of particle theories charge-like quantum numbers can sometimes be inverted by means of a charge conjugation operator called C. Chiral fermions often cannot. Charge conjugation simply means that a given symmetry group occurs in two inequivalent (but still isomorphic) group representations. It is usually the case that the two charge-conjugate representations are fundamental representations of the Lie group. Their product then forms the adjoint representation of the group. In physics, magnetic monopole is a term describing a hypothetical particle that could be quickly clarified to a person familiar with magnets but not electromagnetic theory as a magnet with only one pole. In more accurate terms, it would have net magnetic charge. Interest in the concept stems from particle... In physics, a magnetic monopole is a hypothetical particle that may be loosely described as a magnet with only one pole (see electromagnetic theory for more on magnetic poles). ... C-symmetry means the symmetry of physical laws over a charge-inversion transformation. ... Spinor ... In mathematics, an isomorphism (in Greek isos = equal and morphe = shape) is a kind of interesting mapping between objects. ... Group representation theory is the branch of mathematics that studies properties of abstract groups via their representations as linear transformations of vector spaces. ... In mathematics, a fundamental representation is a representation of a mathematical structure, such as a group, that satisfies the following condition: All other irreducible representations of the group can be found in the tensor products of the fundamental representation with many copies of itself. ... In mathematics, the adjoint representation (or adjoint action) of a Lie group G is the natural representation of G on its own Lie algebra. ...


Thus, a common example is that the product of two charge-conjugate fundamental representations of SL(2,C) (the spinors) forms the adjoint rep of the Lorentz group SO(3,1); abstractly, one writes 2otimesoverline{2}=3oplus 1. In mathematics, a Möbius transformation is a bijective conformal mapping of the extended complex plane (i. ... In mathematics and physics, in particular in the theory of the orthogonal groups, spinors are certain kinds of mathematical objects (group representations of Spin(N), roughly speaking) similar to vectors, but which change sign under a rotation of radians. ... The Lorentz group is the group of all Lorentz transformations of Minkowski spacetime. ... In physics (and mathematics), the Lorentz group is the group of all Lorentz transformations of Minkowski spacetime, the classical setting for all (nongravitational) physical phenomena. ...


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