Electric Charge Quantization

Simple item page
dc.creatorFoot, R.
dc.creatorLew, H.
dc.creatorVolkas, R. R.
dc.date1992-09-20
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:58:01Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:58:01Z
dc.descriptionExperimentally it has been known for a long time that the electric charges of the observed particles appear to be quantized. An approach to understanding electric charge quantization that can be used for gauge theories with explicit $U(1)$ factors -- such as the standard model and its variants -- is pedagogically reviewed and discussed in this article. This approach uses the allowed invariances of the Lagrangian and their associated anomaly cancellation equations. We demonstrate that charge may be de-quantized in the three-generation standard model with massless neutrinos, because differences in family-lepton--numbers are anomaly-free. We also review the relevant experimental limits. Our approach to charge quantization suggests that the minimal standard model should be extended so that family-lepton--number differences are explicitly broken. We briefly discuss some candidate extensions (e.g. the minimal standard model augmented by Majorana right-handed neutrinos).
dc.description18 pages, LaTeX, UM-P-92/52
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9209259
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9209259
dc.identifierJ.Phys.G19:361-372,1993; Erratum-ibid.G19:1067,1993
dc.identifierdoi:10.1088/0954-3899/19/3/005
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/186955
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Phenomenology
dc.titleElectric Charge Quantization
dc.typetext

Files

Collections

arXiv