Past exam of the particle physics course of the University of Oxford / 2019 / 3 / a

Use the orthonormal basis $|u\bar{u}⟩,|d\bar{d}⟩,|s\bar{s}⟩$. The normalized flavour singlet isThe SU(3) invariant contraction pairs each fundamental flavour with its conjugate. Applying any supplied raising operator to the singlet gives zero because its quark and antiquark contributions cancel.

To fix the neutral isospin triplet phase consistently with the source's charged states, apply $I_{+}$ to $-|d\bar{u}⟩$:Thus one missing member of the meson octet isIndeed $I_{+}|T_0⟩=\sqrt{2}|u\bar{d}⟩$, the correct ladder operator strength for the $I=1$ triplet.

The other missing state is orthogonal to both $|1⟩$ and $|T_0⟩$. For coefficients $(a,b,c)$, orthogonality requires $a=b$ and $a+b+c=0$. Choose the convenient overall phase $c>0$ and normalize:It can also be obtained by adding the supplied ladder operations $V_{+}[-|s\bar{u}⟩]=|s\bar{s}⟩-|u\bar{u}⟩$ and $U_{+}[-|s\bar{d}⟩]=|s\bar{s}⟩-|d\bar{d}⟩$. The three displayed states are mutually orthonormal. The meson octet here is the traceless adjoint component of $\bar{3}\otimes 3$; the source's word “antisymmetric” does not impose antisymmetry on all its quark-antiquark flavour wavefunctions.