Editing Bottom quark (section)

== Distinct character ==
The bottom quark's [[Quark#Mass|"bare" mass]] is around {{val|4.18|ul=GeV/c2}}<ref name="PDG2018"/> &ndash; a bit more than four times the mass of a [[proton]], and many orders of magnitude larger than common "light" quarks.

Although it almost exclusively transitions from or to a [[top quark]], the bottom quark can decay into either an [[up quark]] or [[charm quark]] via the [[weak interaction]]. [[CKM matrix]] elements {{mvar|V}}{{sub|ub}} and {{mvar|V}}{{sub|cb}} specify the rates, where both these decays are suppressed, making lifetimes of most bottom particles (~10<sup>−12</sup>&nbsp;s) somewhat longer than those of charmed particles (~10<sup>−13</sup>&nbsp;s), but shorter than those of strange particles (from ~10<sup>−10</sup> to ~10<sup>−8</sup>&nbsp;s).<ref>
{{cite web
 | title=Transformation of Quark Flavors by the Weak Interaction
 | editor-last=Nave | editor-first=C.R.
 | website=HyperPhysics
 | department=Department of Physics and Astronomy
 | publisher=Georgia State University
 | place=Atlanta, GA 
 | url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Particles/qrkdec.html
}}</ref>

The combination of high mass and low transition rate gives experimental [[particle collider|collision]] byproducts containing a bottom quark a distinctive signature that makes them relatively easy to identify using a technique called "[[B-tagging]]". For that reason, [[meson]]s containing the bottom quark are exceptionally long-lived for their mass, and are the easiest particles to use to investigate [[CP violation]]. Such experiments are being performed at the [[BaBar experiment|BaBar]], [[Belle Experiment|Belle]] and [[LHCb]] experiments.