What Is the Meaning of Fractional Electric Charges?

Abstract

The aim of this essay is not to challenge any accepted area of physics. The theory of quark phenomenology remains unaffected, as does the physical model of quarks based on fractional electric charges. However, it would seem that a different underlying or hidden symmetry may lead to a more successful resolution of at least two major problems in contemporary physics: Grand Unification and the application of the Higgs mechanism to fermion masses. In particular, it would seem that the fractional electric charges of quarks arise from the gauge invariance of the strong interaction and do not determine the deeper symmetries of the GU gauge group. The Han-Nambu representation has never been disproved, and fell out of favour more or less by accident. It would make sense to see if it can lead to insights in other problematic areas of physics, especially as it leads to testable predictions within our current experimental capacities.