In particle physics, the baryon number is a strictly conserved additive quantum number of a system. It is defined as
B = 1 3 ( n q − n q ¯ ) , {\displaystyle B={\frac {1}{3}}\left(n_{\text{q}}-n_{\bar {\text{q}}}\right),}where nq is the number of quarks, and nq is the number of antiquarks. Baryons (three quarks) have a baryon number of +1, mesons (one quark, one antiquark) have a baryon number of 0, and antibaryons (three antiquarks) have a baryon number of −1. Exotic hadrons like pentaquarks (four quarks, one antiquark) and tetraquarks (two quarks, two antiquarks) are also classified as baryons and mesons depending on their baryon number.
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