juliensimon/pdg-particle-properties

---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "PDG Particle Properties"
language:
- en
description: "Every known particle from the Particle Data Group (PDG) — THE reference used by every particle physicist."
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
- tabular-regression
tags:
- physics
- particle
- pdg
- standard-model
- high-energy-physics
- open-data
size_categories:
- n<1K
---

# PDG Particle Properties


Properties of every known particle from the Particle Data Group (PDG).
Currently **6,506** particles.

## Dataset description

The Particle Data Group (PDG) is THE definitive reference for particle physics
properties, used by every particle physicist worldwide. This dataset provides
a machine-readable version of the PDG particle listings, including masses,
widths, lifetimes, quantum numbers, and decay properties for all known
elementary particles, hadrons, and nuclei.

Data is sourced via the `particle` Python package which provides clean,
programmatic access to the full PDG dataset.

## Schema

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `pdg_id` | int64 | PDG Monte Carlo particle ID |
| `name` | string | Particle name (e.g. "pi+", "K*(892)0") |
| `latex_name` | string | LaTeX-formatted name |
| `mass_mev` | float64 | Mass (MeV/c^2) |
| `mass_uncertainty_mev` | float64 | Mass upper uncertainty (MeV/c^2) |
| `width_mev` | float64 | Decay width (MeV) |
| `width_uncertainty_mev` | float64 | Width upper uncertainty (MeV) |
| `charge` | float64 | Electric charge (units of e) |
| `spin` | float64 | Spin J |
| `parity` | Int64 | Parity P (+1 or -1) |
| `isospin` | string | Isospin I |
| `g_parity` | Int64 | G-parity (+1 or -1) |
| `c_parity` | Int64 | C-parity (+1 or -1) |
| `anti_flag` | int64 | Anti-particle flag |
| `is_self_conjugate` | bool | Whether particle is its own antiparticle |
| `lifetime_ns` | float64 | Lifetime (nanoseconds) |
| `ctau_mm` | float64 | Proper decay length c*tau (mm) |

## Quick stats

- **6,506** particles in the database
- **6,431** with measured mass
- **522** with measured width
- **88** self-conjugate particles
- Heaviest particle: **Ds273** (254,437 MeV)

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/pdg-particle-properties", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# All mesons (PDG ID 100-999)
mesons = df[(df["pdg_id"].abs() >= 100) & (df["pdg_id"].abs() < 1000)]

# Mass spectrum plot
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
masses = df[df["mass_mev"].notna()]["mass_mev"]
plt.hist(masses[masses < 5000], bins=100, log=True)
plt.xlabel("Mass (MeV/c^2)")
plt.ylabel("Count")
plt.title("Particle Mass Spectrum")

# Stable particles (no measured width)
stable = df[df["width_mev"].isna() & df["mass_mev"].notna()]

# Heaviest particles
heaviest = df.sort_values("mass_mev", ascending=False).head(20)
```

## Data source

[Particle Data Group](https://pdg.lbl.gov/) (PDG), via the
[`particle`](https://pypi.org/project/particle/) Python package.

## Update schedule

Annual (August 1) via [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets).

## Pipeline

Source code: [juliensimon/space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets)

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{pdg_particle_properties,
author = {Simon, Julien},
title = {PDG Particle Properties},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/pdg-particle-properties},
note = {Based on Particle Data Group (PDG) data via the particle Python package}
}
```

## License

[CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)