any of a group of elementary particles, such as a photon or pion, that has zero or integral spin and obeys the rules of Bose-Einstein statistics
Compare fermion
Word origin
C20: named after Satyendra Nath Bose; see -on
boson in American English
(ˈboʊsɑn)
noun
Particle Physics
any of a class of subatomic particles that do not obey the Pauli exclusion principle and have zero or integral spin, including the mesons, weakons, and classons: bosons are thought to carry the four fundamental forces of nature (electromagnetism, gravity, strong interaction, weak interaction)
see also fermion
Word origin
after S. N. Bose (1894-1974), Indian physicist + -on
Examples of 'boson' in a sentence
boson
The idea made her dizzy, so she jumped into a complicated explanation of the Higgs boson that soon left him behind.
Susan Elizabeth Phillips NOBODY'S BABY BUT MINE (1997)
All related terms of 'boson'
W boson
a type of elementary particle with either a positive or negative charge considered to transmit the weak interaction between other elementary particles. W particles have a rest mass of 1.435 × 10 –25 kg
Z boson
a type of neutral elementary particle considered to transmit the weak interaction between other elementary particles. Z particles have a rest mass of 1.62557 × 10 –25 kg
gauge boson
a boson that mediates the interaction between elementary particles . There are several types: photons for electromagnetic interactions, W and Z intermediate vector bosons for weak interactions, and gravitons for gravitational interactions
Higgs boson
an elementary particle with zero spin and mass greater than zero, predicted to exist by electroweak theory and other gauge theories, discovered in 2012
intermediate vector boson
a hypothetical particle believed to mediate the weak interaction between elementary particles