[Physics] Are protons and neutrons 2 dimensional given that they consist of 3 quarks

neutronsprotonsquarks

Assuming the following:

  1. Neutrons and protons are made of 3 quarks (of different types).
  2. All quarks are point particles

Then a neutron or proton cannot be 3 dimensional because three points cannot define a 3-D object, but rather only a 2-D plane.

Does this geometric reasoning apply for quantum particles?

If so then a proton or neutron is must be either 2-D or composed of a 4th particle that gives it a 3-D shape.

Best Answer

Suppose you consider two satellites orbiting a planet with their orbits aligned at right angles:

satellites

This arrangement of the three objects produces a three dimensional object, even with just three points, because the plane formed by the three objects continuously changes its orientation in 3D space.

The above shows that even for a purely classical system three objects can define a 3D structure. For completeness we should point out that quantum objects, like quarks in a nucleus or electrons in an atom, are not points and do not have a position in the sense that a classical object has a position. Quantum objects are delocalised in space, a bit like a fuzzy cloud, so they are inherently three dimensional. A hydrogen atom does not consist of a pointlike electron orbiting in a plane around the proton. The electron in a hydrogen atom is a fuzzy 3D blob centred on the proton.

And to make things even more complicated, hadrons like protons do not consist of three quarks. For the quarks (and gluons) inside a hadron the concept of discrete particles is somewhat vague and a hadron is really a roiling sea of an indeterminate number of particles. When we say a hadron contains three quarks we mean only that on average there are three quarks present.

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