FSU Hadronic Physics

Jason Barlow

Graduate Student
All matter in the universe is made up of quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons. Quarks interact via the strong force through mediator gauge bosons called gluons. Hadronic physics studies the relationship between quarks, gluons, and the strong force at an energy range on the order of 10 GeV. Quarks form together via confinement as hadrons. The quark model allows for quarks to combine into bound states of three valence quarks called baryons, or valence quark and anti-quark bound state pairs called mesons. However, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) allows for more possibilities. I aim to search for exotic mesons which are not predicted by the Quark Model, but are allowed by QCD.