Particle physics terms Fermions, bosons, etc. Flashcards
A fundamental particle. Six types (or flavours) are known. Up and down flavours are constituents of protons and neutrons. The other, heavier ones are called strange, charm, bottom, and top.
Quark
A negatively charged particle (lepton) making up the outer shell of the atom.
electron
An anti-electron. The positively-charged antiparticle of an electron.
positron
A heavier flavour of lepton than the electron.
Muon
An uncharged, massless (or at least extremely light), lepton. Like the charged leptons, they can come in three types or flavours
neutrino
The antiparticle of neutrino.
anti - neutrino
Particles consisting of three quarks including neutrons and protons.
Baryons
Particles made up of quarks. There are two types: baryons and mesons.
Hadrons
A family of particles consisting of the electron, the muon and the tau, along with their neutrinos.
Leptons
A positively-charged particle (baryon) consisting of two up and one down quarks which is found in and makes up the atomic nucleus.
Proton
A neutral particle (baryon) consisting of two down and one up quarks which is found in and makes up the atomic nucleus.
neutron
A force which binds quarks together. Its range is limited to the distances between quarks in hadrons, but an indirect effect of this force is to bind protons and neutrons together to form nuclei. Carried by gluons.
Strong force
A force with infinite range which acts between objects according to their charge. Specific cases are the electric and magnetic forces. This force is carried by photons.
electronmagnetic force
Interactions that change the flavour of particles; for example the decay of a neutron into a proton, electron, and anti-neutrino; are governed by this force. This force is the only one that affects neutrinos.
weak force
A force resulting from the combination of the electromagnetic force and the weak force.
electroweak force
A force with infinite range which acts between objects, such as planets, according to their mass.
Gravity
The carrier particle of the strong force.
gluons
The carrier particle of the electromagnetic force. Electromagnetic radiation, such as light, can be thought of as being composed of these ‘particles’.
photon
A force-carrier particle. Photons, gluons, W, and Z particles are all these kind of particles. Another type the Higgs, is proposed as the mechanism by which particles acquire mass.
boson
A matter particle. Leptons (such as the electron and neutrinos) and quarks are examples of these particles.
Fermion
