Nicola Cabibbo Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
Nicola Cabibbo organized decay probability amplitudes of the weak interaction through a single mixing angle. His 1963 paper related strangeness-conserving and strangeness-changing processes within a symmetry-based weak current. In modern quark notation, the combination expresses this quark mixing: the relative strengths depend on one Cabibbo angle. Comparing different decay rates therefore tests one common structure instead of fitting every weak channel independently. The quark notation is a later interpretation of the original current construction.[ref]
Unitary Symmetry and Leptonic Decays by Nicola Cabibbo. 1963, weak-current assumptions and one-angle relation among decay amplitudes; modern quark illustration
A physicist working on quark mixing.[ref]
Nicola Cabibbo (1935-2010) by CERN. Independent professional identity
Portrait of Nicola Cabibbo
. Marcella Bona. CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.