{"arxiv_id":"hep-ph/9209259","title":"Electric Charge Quantization","abstract":"Experimentally it has been known for a long time that the electric charges of the observed particles appear to be quantized. An approach to understanding electric charge quantization that can be used for gauge theories with explicit $U(1)$ factors -- such as the standard model and its variants -- is pedagogically reviewed and discussed in this article. This approach uses the allowed invariances of the Lagrangian and their associated anomaly cancellation equations. We demonstrate that charge may be de-quantized in the three-generation standard model with massless neutrinos, because differences in family-lepton--numbers are anomaly-free. We also review the relevant experimental limits. Our approach to charge quantization suggests that the minimal standard model should be extended so that family-lepton--number differences are explicitly broken. We briefly discuss some candidate extensions (e.g. the minimal standard model augmented by Majorana right-handed neutrinos).","primary_cat":"hep-ph","cross_cats":[],"submitted_at":"1992-09-20T23:54:21+00:00","latest_version":1,"source":"arxiv","source_label":"arXiv","source_url":null,"has_pdf":true,"has_source":false,"verdict":null,"confidence":null,"one_line_summary":null,"novelty_score":null,"correctness_risk":null,"formal_verification":null,"upvotes":0,"downvotes":0,"pith_score":0,"inbound_count":17,"_links":{"html":"https://pith.science/paper/hep-ph/9209259","verdict":"/api/v1/verdicts/hep-ph/9209259"}}