meaning that they combine with other quarks to form hadrons and can only be observed as such).

Because the top quark is so massive, its properties allowed indirect determination of the mass of the Higgs boson (see ' below). As such, the top quark's properties are extensively studied as a means to discriminate between competing theories of new physics beyond the Standard Model. The top quark is the only quark that has been directly observed due to its decay time being