Leptons, quarks, and their antiparticles from a phase-space perspective

Abstract

It is argued that antiparticles may be interpreted in macroscopic terms without explicitly using the concept of time and its reversal. The appropriate framework is that of nonrelativistic phase space. It is recalled that a quantum version of this approach leads also, alongside the appearance of antiparticles, to the emergence of 'internal' quantum numbers identifiable with weak isospin, weak hypercharge and colour, and to the derivation of the Gell-Mann-Nishijima relation, while simultaneously offering a preonless interpretation of the Harari-Shupe rishon model. Furthermore, it is shown that – under the assumption of the additivity of canonical momenta – the approach entails the emergence of string-like structures resembling mesons and baryons, thus providing a different starting point for the discussion of quark unobservability.