Can a quark be compressed?

[dstebbins]

It's generally accepted that quarks are the smallest subatomic particles in the universe. Well, suppose you had the technology to handle a quark. Would it be possible to compress it? I don't see any reason why it shouldn't.

[Meir Achuz]

The elementary quark is pointlike. A point is beyond compression.

[dstebbins]

And since a point has a volume measurement of 0x0x0, that can only suggest that a quark does not exist...wtf?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

What is meant by "pointlike."

[dstebbins]

...............okay, so a quark isn't really a point, it just has point-like properties, kind of like how light has particle properties even though it's actually a wave. Am I thinking right?

[MolotovCocktail]

Well, light is both a particle and a wave and thus exhibits the properties of both.

[dstebbins]

*gasp* NOOOOOOOOO! Leik oh imm eff jee eye d!D /\/0+ /\/0 |!gh+ wuzza doo-all-itt-ee!

 

I was asking if it was off the same principle as light.

[Severian]

...............okay, so a quark isn't really a point, it just has point-like properties, kind of like how light has particle properties even though it's actually a wave. Am I thinking right?

 

Yes, that's right. It is exactly the same idea.

 

So in principle one could imagine compressing a quark, but one has to be careful in defining what we mean. For example, the observation of a quark's position in some sense compresses it because the previously spread out wave collapses to a point (technically this is what is really meant by point particle - it has a position eigenstate).

 

Alternatively one could define the 'size' of a quark as the volume in which its effects are felt 'strongly'. A quark is surrounded by a cloud of gluons which are emitted and reabsorbed. One could imagine changing the siz of this cloud by changing the properties of the interaction: for example, breaking the SU(3) symmetry would make the gluon heavy and restrict its motion, thus making the effective size of the quark smaller. (This may actually happen in certain dense stars.)

[dstebbins]

Yes, that's right. It is exactly the same idea.

 

So in principle one could imagine compressing a quark, but one has to be careful in defining what we mean. For example, the observation of a quark's position in some sense compresses it because the previously spread out wave collapses to a point (technically this is what is really meant by point particle - it has a position eigenstate).

 

Alternatively one could define the 'size' of a quark as the volume in which its effects are felt 'strongly'. A quark is surrounded by a cloud of gluons which are emitted and reabsorbed. One could imagine changing the siz of this cloud by changing the properties of the interaction: for example, breaking the SU(3) symmetry would make the gluon heavy and restrict its motion, thus making the effective size of the quark smaller. (This may actually happen in certain dense stars.)

 

Okay, NOW you're speaking way over the top of my head. Eigenstate? Gluon? Wtf?