The relevance of possible spin-3/2 fundamental fermions in connection with models of subquark structure is discussed. The Bjorken limit for production of spin-3/2 partons is investigated and the departures from the wellknown spin-112 behavior are examined. The pattern of scaling violation for these processes can be clearly separated from the predictions of quantum chromodynamics.Since the discovery of the T (Ref. 1) and the T (Ref. 2) a remarkable symmetry between quarks and leptons has seemed to emerge. In the standard model3 of unified weak and electromagnetic interactions, to each leptonic family there corresponds a quark family. Even if the experimental evidence for the top quark and the T neutrino i s not completely settled, there are strong theoretica14 arguments that this i s the most feasible model. We a r e then naturally tempted to investigate whether this set of six leptons and six quarks (the latter in three color states each) i s the ultimate set of fundamental fermionic components of matter.The interest in this problem has recently led (see Refs. 5 and 6 for earlier references) to proposals of many models for a more fundamental structure. We are, however, very far from a definite answer, mainly due to the fact that a structure of quarks and leptons would involve phenomena at distances of the order of 10-l6 cm o r smaller, which a r e not experimentally accessible at present.An important step along this direction would be the experimental discovery of a fundamental fermion with spin 2. This might then give indications on whether the currently known families a r e really fundamental o r not; on whether both quarks and leptons a r e fundamental o r if they are on a different level7; on whether the families a r e to be simply repeated or whether we should consider each one a s composed of spin $ and spin 2 fermions.We have previously presented a discussion of these possibilities5 for the leptonic sector and investigated in a phenomenological and model-independent way some of the experimental consequences of such a hypothesis. In this paper we turn our attention to the quark sector.A first possibility is to consider that spin-; .quarks would appear in an independent and sequential family: (u, d),
alar de Einstein, escrever sobre Einstein é certamente um desafio fascinante porém perigoso: quantos artigos, quantos livros não lhe foram dedicados, a ele e a sua obra, desde os anos 50, últimos anos de vida? Quantos discursos não foram feitos, quantos congressos não foram realizados há exatamente quatro anos, por ocasião do centenário de seu nascimento?
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