The Asymmetry of Antimatter in the Proton

Understand

The fundamental building blocks of the proton, quarks and gluons, have been known for decades.

• However, we still have an incomplete theoretical and experimental understanding of how these particles and their dynamics give rise to the quantum bound state of the proton and its physical properties, such as for example its spin.
• The two up and the single down quarks that comprise the proton in the simplest picture account only for a few percent of the proton mass, the bulk of which is in the form of quark kinetic and potential energy and gluon energy from the strong force.
• An essential feature of this force, as described by quantum chromodynamics, is its ability to create matter-antimatter quark pairs inside the proton that exist only for a very short time.