antiquark

American  

[an-tee-kwawrk, -kwahrk, an-tahy-] / ˈæn tiˌkwɔrk, -ˌkwɑrk, ˈæn taɪ- /

noun

Physics.

1. the antiparticle of a quark.

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antiquark British  

/ ˈæntɪkwɑːk /

noun

1. the antiparticle of a quark

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antiquark Scientific  

/ ăn′tē-kwôrk′,ăn′tī- /

1. The antiparticle that corresponds to a quark.

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Etymology

Origin of antiquark

anti- + quark

Example Sentences

Unlike protons and neutrons, which are made of three quarks, mesons are made of one quark and one antiquark.

From Scientific American • Feb. 2, 2023

He and a colleague, Tung-Mow Yan, developed the Drell-Yan Process, which describes the effects of a quark in one particle colliding with an antiquark in a second particle.

From Washington Post • Dec. 24, 2016

Mesons are combinations of a quark and an antiquark.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

The team clocked an extremely rare process in which a BS meson — composed of a strange quark and a bottom antiquark — decays into a muon–antimuon pair.

From Nature • Nov. 21, 2012

Such combinations make up the particles known as mesons, which are unstable because the quark and antiquark can annihilate each other, producing electrons and other particles.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking