Template talk:SubatomicParticle/symbol

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[edit] References

Potential reference: http://pdg.lbl.gov/2007/reviews/namingrpp.pdf - SkyLined (talk) 11:45, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Exotic atoms

Should probably be moved to the templates in Category:Nuclide templates.SkyLined (talk) 12:14, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Protons and Neutrons

  • Should proton and neutron be p and n or p+ and n0 ? It's currently the later
    -- SkyLined (talk) 18:08, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
Use the following:
  • {{SubatomicParticle|Proton}} for p
  • {{SubatomicParticle|Proton+}} for p+
  • {{SubatomicParticle|Neutron}} for n
  • {{SubatomicParticle|Neutron0}} for n0
I'm still not clear on when to use which one.
-- SkyLined (talk) local time:08:22, 14 June 2008 (CET), server time: 17:34, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

When information about the charge is useful, I would use the charged versions, otherwise I'd use the non-charged version. When writing nuclear equations, I would definitely use the charged versions.Headbomb (talk) 17:47, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Italics

Some particles and represented using italic characters, because they are at the pdg webpage. I assume this is the default, but I may be wrong. I'd like to change the others to italic as well, if that's how they're normally displayed, but I am not sure.

The symbols aren't by default italicized. Whether they are italicized or not is entirely dependent on what convention a particular editor/publisher uses. I think that by default, things shouldn't be italicized. Headbomb (talk) 18:47, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I believe we should enforce the standard rules for mathematical notation: Roman and lowercase Greek symbols must be Italic and uppercase Greek symbols must not. Since the advent of typesetting capable of rendering symbols in this way, I can't think of any publication which does not follow these rules. It has the important advantage of making the symbols distinct from the ordinary flow of the text. Since adherence to this convention is very poor throughout Wikipedia, adding this rule to the template would immediately improve many articles. I propose that standard italicization be made the default and non-italic be added as an option (for when a particle appears in text that is already italicized, say). -- Xerxes (talk) 13:25, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
Those are not math symbols (variables) Xerves. They are equivalent to the chemical symbols of elements. As for italics or not, it's completely up to the editor. PDG italicize greek symbols, but these folks don't, in fact they italicize latin symbolsHeadbomb (ταλκ · κοντριβς) 12:35, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
Actually, they are mathematical symbols; specifically, they are symbols denoting fields. You can draw a distinction between symbolic usage and English-name usage sometimes: "K-N scattering is very interesting." but "The K-meson was the first strange particle discovered." Also, you seem to be confused as to the rule: lowercase Roman, uppercase Roman and lowercase Greek are always Italic; uppercase Greek is always non-Italic. The papers you cite both appear to correctly apply this rule. -- Xerxes (talk) 20:38, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
The CDF article doesn't use italics for greek letters. Check out the Sigma and Lambda symbols right on the page 3 and 4.

Λ0b → Λ+c + π-

m(Σb)-m(Σ∗b) = 21.2+2−1.9(stat)...

This is another example. On page three you find:

This isospin 3/2 multiplet contains two Ξ's with ordinary charge assignments, Ξ03⁄2, Ξ-3⁄2

The rule that seems to be followed is Roman = lowercase and uppercase italics, Greek = lowercase italics, uppercase no italics. I don't know why they don't use italics all the time though. Headbomb (ταλκ · κοντριβς) 21:35, 9 June 2008 (UTC)


Actually, I don't know anymore. I can sorta see italics on certain zoom level, but when I zoom in, they look unitalicized. Headbomb (ταλκ · κοντριβς) 21:37, 9 June 2008 (UTC)


Also Sky, could you drop by my talk page and check the comments from Crzycheetah for the list of baryons? Templates seems to be causing display problems.Headbomb (ταλκ · κοντριβς) 12:35, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Do you have some examples that we can use to back up this change, should we decide to make it?     — SkyLined {talkcontribs 11:43, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] W- boson

I noticed that you changed the - to a − in the code to fix a bug. What was the bug & what difference does it make? Should we change all the - for −'s? Headbomb (talk) 17:36, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Actually I changed "-;" to "−" because:
    • The semi-colon was there by accident (hence the word bug, which was a bit misleading)
    • Where possible, we should use − (the minus sign) instead of - (dash) to display negative numbers.
      -- SkyLined (talk) 18:06, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
Alright, well I've already replaced every - with a − so that's that.Headbomb (talk) 18:09, 8 April 2008 (UTC)