Search for fractionally charged particles
Klaus S. Lackner, George Zweig · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 1982
Quarks, the constituents of hadrons and fermion fields of quantum chromodynamics, have fractional charges -1/3e and 2/3e. All charges are integral multiples of 1/3e and not e, as was previously believed. Therefore it is natural to ask if isolated particles of fractional charge exist, either as an intrinsic part of matter, or as particles that can be produced at high energy accelerators. This question can only be answered by experiment, and remains interesting even if quantum chromodynamics turns out to be an absolutely confining theory of quarks. For example, small deviations from the standard version of quantum chromodynamics, or the incorporation of quantum chromodynamics into a more comprehensive theory, could require the existence of free fractionally charged particles.