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baryon

  (băr'ē-ŏn') pronunciation
n.

Any of a family of subatomic particles, including the nucleon and hyperon multiplets, that participate in strong interactions, are composed of three quarks, and are generally more massive than mesons. Also called heavy particle.

[Greek barus, heavy + –ON1.]

baryonic bar'y·on'ic adj.
 
 

Any member of one of two classes of hadrons. Baryons are heavy subatomic particles made up of three quarks. They are characterized by a baryon number, B, of 1, and have half-integer spin values. Their antiparticles (see antimatter), called antibaryons, have a baryon number of -1. Both protons and neutrons are baryons.

For more information on baryon, visit Britannica.com.

 
(bâr'ēŏn') [Gr.,=heavy], class of elementary particles that includes the proton, the neutron, and a large number of unstable, heavier particles, known as hyperons. From a technical point of view, baryons are strongly interacting fermions; i.e., they experience the strong nuclear force and are described by the Fermi-Dirac statistics, which apply to all particles obeying the Pauli exclusion principle. All members of the baryon family of particles adhere to the law of conservation of baryon family number (see conservation laws, in physics); the baryon family number is +1 for ordinary baryons and −1 for antibaryons (see antiparticle). In any particle interaction, the sum of the baryon family numbers of the interacting particles must equal the sum for the resulting particles. In reactions involving only nucleons, this law requires that the total number of nucleons be the same before and after the reaction. In addition to the nucleons (protons and neutrons), other members of the baryon family include the lambda, sigma, delta, xi, and N particles, as well as a series of higher-mass recurrences of each of these particles. These recurrences may be considered excited states of the lowest-mass member of the series.


 
Games:

Baryon

Game Description

Baryon is a futuristic air combat game from ACRO Studios. The object of the game is to guide a spacecraft through enemy territory while avoiding fire from--and returning fire to--earthbound and in-air enemies. At the end of each level, there is a flying boss creature. To kill the boss, players must launch a sustained attack against it.

Players have the choice of two crafts at the beginning of the game: a red fighter and a blue fighter. Both vehicles are basically the same, but the weapons systems are slightly different. Players begin the game with unlimited laser fire and two "smart bombs." Power-ups hidden throughout the game allow players to upgrade their weapons systems and replenish their supply of smarties.

There are six levels to complete in Baryon. Players receive three ships to begin the game and five credits, which allow players to continue from the spot where their final ship was destroyed. ~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

Roots & Influences

Baryon was developed in 1995 as a nostalgic throwback to classic coin-op games like 1941, Gyruss, and even Space Invaders. The concept of blowing up advancing airborne enemies is a classic video game scenario. ~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

Frustrating game play. ~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Baryon is a fairly fun, but often frustrating, flying shooter. The graphics are reminiscent of the many great arcade air combat games of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The sound effects and music are good, but the game play itself is too hard.

Baryon's graphics are great and very detailed. The assortment of enemy vehicles, the backgrounds, and the textured landscape are superbly rendered. All of the vehicles--including the player's spacecraft--are small and could stand to be slightly bigger. This minor detail does not detract from the game.

The music and sound are very good in Baryon. The developers apparently spent a good amount of time getting the music and effects just right. The music adds to the game but is very understated. Unless you really listen for it, the music does not really register in your mind. The sound effects are not terribly elaborate, but they are simple without being goofy.

Based on graphics and sound alone, Baryon is a great game. However, games are most criticized for their play, and that is where Baryon falls short.

At many points in the game, there are simply too many enemies on the screen at one time. A player would have to be super-dexterous to weave in and out of the enemies and their missiles. I don't like games that are nearly impossible to defeat, and Baryon is one of those.

I realize that there are the smart bombs to use. I also realize that five continuation credits should go a long way toward defeating any game. Despite these great advantages, there are still portions of Baryon that cannot be traversed without a combination of supreme luck and supreme skill. I don't want to fly through this game with no fear of enemies, but I would like to think that I have at least a small chance of winning.

Baryon is a game that looks great and sounds great . It is simply too bad that it does not also play that way. It is worth your time to pick Baryon up, but anyone with a low frustration tolerance will put it right back down. ~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Very good. ~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Understated, well done. ~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Weak. ~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

Decent, but could be better. ~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

 
Wikipedia: baryon
Combinations of three u, d or s-quarks with a total spin of 3/2 form the so-called baryon decuplet.
Enlarge
Combinations of three u, d or s-quarks with a total spin of 3/2 form the so-called baryon decuplet.
The octet of light spin-1/2 baryons.
Enlarge
The octet of light spin-1/2 baryons.

In particle physics, the baryons are the family of subatomic particles which are made of three quarks. The family notably includes the proton and neutron, which make up the atomic nucleus, but many other unstable baryons exist as well. The term "baryon" is derived from the Greek βαρύς (barys), meaning "heavy," because at the time of their naming it was believed that baryons were characterized by having greater mass than other particles.

Background

Baryons are strongly interacting fermions — that is, they experience the strong nuclear force and are described by Fermi-Dirac statistics, which apply to all particles obeying the Pauli exclusion principle. This is in contrast to the bosons, which do not obey the exclusion principle.

Baryons, along with mesons, belong to the family of particles known as hadrons, meaning they are composed of quarks. Baryons are fermions composed of three quarks, while mesons are bosons composed of a quark and an antiquark. The quark model classification of baryons is based on this construction.

In addition to the nucleons (protons and neutrons), other members of the baryon family include the Δ, Λ, Σ, Ξ and Ω particles.

Delta baryons (Δ++, Δ+, Δ0, Δ) are composed of a combination of up and down quarks such that the total spin is 3/2. They primarily decay into a pion and either a proton or neutron.

Lambda baryons (Λ0) are composed of one up, one down, and one strange quark, with the up and down quarks in an isospin 0 (flavor-antisymmetric) state. The neutral lambda provided the first observational evidence of the strange quark. In almost all cases a lambda decays to a proton and a charged pion, or to a neutron and a neutral pion.

Sigma baryons (Σ+, Σ0, Σ), are also composed of one strange quark and a combination of up and down quarks, but arranged in an isospin 1 state. The neutral sigma has the same quark composition as the lambda (up, down, strange), and so decays much faster than either Σ+ (up, up, strange) or Σ (down, down, strange).

Xi baryons, (Ξ0, Ξ), are composed of two strange quarks and either an up or down quark. They decay predominantly into a lambda and a pion; the lambda subsequently decays as described above. Because of this cascading sequence of decays, a Ξ state is sometimes referred to as a cascade.

The omega minus baryon (Ω) is composed of three strange quarks. Its discovery was a great triumph in the study of quark processes, since it was found only after its existence, mass, and decay products had already been predicted.

There are additional baryon states which contain heavy quarks. These are denoted by the Greek letter corresponding to their light (up/down/strange) flavor content with a subscript indicating that a strange quark should be replaced by a heavier quark. For example, the Λ+c has quark content (charm, up, down) instead of (strange, up, down). (See: charmed baryons, bottom baryons.)

Baryonic matter

Baryonic matter is matter composed mostly of baryons (by mass), which includes atoms of any sort (and thus includes nearly all matter that we may encounter or experience in everyday life, including our bodies). Non-baryonic matter is the fundamental antithesis of such matter, being any sort of matter that is not primarily composed of baryons. This might include such ordinary matter as neutrinos or free electrons; however, it may also include exotic species of non-baryonic dark matter, such as supersymmetric particles, axions or black holes. The distinction between baryonic and non-baryonic matter is important in cosmology, because Big Bang nucleosynthesis models set tight constraints on the amount of baryonic matter present in the early universe.

The very existence of baryons is also a significant issue in cosmology, since we have assumed that the Big Bang produced a state with equal amounts of baryons and anti-baryons. The process by which baryons come to outnumber their antiparticles is called baryogenesis (in contrast to a process by which leptons account for the predominance of matter over antimatter, leptogenesis).

See also

Baryons in media

Baryonic particles are the primary subject in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode 6.18 Starship Mine.

Notes

    References and further reading


     
     

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    Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
    Games. Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Game Guide ® , a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Baryon" Read more

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