In
particle physics
Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...
, heptaquarks are a family of hypothetical
composite particle
This is a list of known and hypothesized particles.
Elementary particles
Elementary particles are particles with no measurable internal structure; that is, it is unknown whether they are composed of other particles. They are the fundamental ob ...
s, each consisting of seven
quarks or
antiquarks of any flavours.
Properties
One model predicts that the lowest-energy heptaquark state would be a spin-1/2 or spin-3/2 state of energy roughly 2.5 GeV. Another study found that the most stable heptaquark would include three strange quarks and two strange antiquarks.
See also
*
Exotic baryon
Exotic baryons are a type of hadron (bound states of quarks and gluons) with half-integer spin, but with a quark content different from the three quarks (''qqq'') present in conventional baryons. An example would be pentaquarks, consisting of f ...
References
Baryons
Hypothetical composite particles
{{particle-stub