petrushka.googol Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Is there a cap on the number of elementary particles ? I think not. By varying the energy of collisions the types of particles change and the list is almost endless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajb Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Is there a cap on the number of elementary particles ? I think not. You mean the number of species? If so, then I do not think there is anything that we know of that gives some cap. The standard model is a hash of phenomenological results and some field theory. It cannot truly be a fundamental theory. The mass spectrum in string theory (usually) contains a finite number of massless particles and an infinite number of massive particles. So there could be room for a lot more particles to be realised in nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Is there a cap on the number of elementary particles ? I think not. By varying the energy of collisions the types of particles change and the list is almost endless. Currently we only know of 17 (plus their anti-particles). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_particle#/media/File:Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles.svg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Is there a cap on the number of elementary particles ? I think not. By varying the energy of collisions the types of particles change and the list is almost endless. Is there a scientific basis for thinking there are more, if only you go to a higher energy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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