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In particle physics, a massless particle is an elementary particle whose invariant mass is zero. At present the only confirmed massless particle is the photon.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2022) |
In particle physics, a massless particle is an elementary particle whose invariant mass is zero. At present the only confirmed massless particle is the photon.
| Name | Symbol | Antiparticle | Charge (e) | Spin | Interaction mediated | Existence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photon | γ | Self | 0 | 1 | Electromagnetism | Confirmed massless |
| Gluon | g | Self | 0 | 1 | Strong interaction | Confirmed to exist; masslessness unconfirmed |
| Graviton | G | Self | 0 | 2 | Gravitation | Purely hypothetical / unconfirmed |
The photon (carrier of electromagnetism) is one of two known gauge bosons that are both believed to be massless; the other is the gluon (carrier of the strong force). The only other confirmed gauge bosons are the W and Z bosons, which are known from experiment to be extremely massive. Of these, only the photon has been experimentally confirmed to be massless.
Although there are compelling theoretical reasons to believe that gluons are massless, they can never be observed as free particles due to being confined within hadrons, and hence their presumed lack of rest mass cannot be confirmed by any feasible experiment. [1] [2]
The graviton is a hypothetical tensor boson proposed to be the carrier of gravitational force in some quantum theories of gravity, but no such theory has been successfully incorporated into the Standard Model, so the Standard Model neither predicts any such particle nor requires it, and no gravitational quantum particle has been indicated by experiment. Whether or not a graviton would be massless if it existed is likewise an open question.
The Weyl fermion discovered in 2015 is also expected to be massless, [3] [4] but these are not actual particles. At one time neutrinos were thought to perhaps be Weyl fermions, but when they were discovered to have mass, that left no fundamental particles of the Weyl type.
The Weyl fermions discovered in 2015 are merely quasiparticles – composite motions found in the structure of molecular latices that have particle-like behavior, but are not themselves real particles. Weyl fermions in matter are like phonons, which are also quasiparticles. No real particle that is a Weyl fermion has been found to exist, and there is no compelling theoretical reason that requires them to exist.
Neutrinos were originally thought to be massless – and possibly Weyl fermions. However, because neutrinos change flavour as they travel, at least two of the types of neutrinos must have mass (and cannot be Weyl fermions). [5] The discovery of this phenomenon, known as neutrino oscillation, led to Canadian scientist Arthur B. McDonald and Japanese scientist Takaaki Kajita sharing the 2015 Nobel prize in physics. [6]
In physics, the fundamental interactions or fundamental forces are the interactions that do not appear to be reducible to more basic interactions. There are four fundamental interactions known to exist:
In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a subatomic particle that is not composed of other particles. The Standard Model presently recognizes seventeen distinct particles—twelve fermions and five bosons. As a consequence of flavor and color combinations and antimatter, the fermions and bosons are known to have 48 and 13 variations, respectively. Among the 61 elementary particles embraced by the Standard Model number: electrons and other leptons, quarks, and the fundamental bosons. Subatomic particles such as protons or neutrons, which contain two or more elementary particles, are known as composite particles.
In particle physics, a fermion is a particle that follows Fermi–Dirac statistics. Generally, it has a half-odd-integer spin: spin 1/2, spin 3/2, etc. These particles obey the Pauli exclusion principle. Fermions include all quarks and leptons and all composite particles made of an odd number of these, such as all baryons and many atoms and nuclei. Fermions differ from bosons, which obey Bose–Einstein statistics.
In theories of quantum gravity, the graviton is the hypothetical quantum of gravity, an elementary particle that mediates the force of gravitational interaction. There is no complete quantum field theory of gravitons due to an outstanding mathematical problem with renormalization in general relativity. In string theory, believed by some to be a consistent theory of quantum gravity, the graviton is a massless state of a fundamental string.
Grand Unified Theory (GUT) is any model in particle physics that merges the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces into a single force at high energies. Although this unified force has not been directly observed, many GUT models theorize its existence. If the unification of these three interactions is possible, it raises the possibility that there was a grand unification epoch in the very early universe in which these three fundamental interactions were not yet distinct.
A gluon is a type of elementary particle that mediates the strong interaction between quarks, acting as the exchange particle for the interaction. Gluons are massless vector bosons, thereby having a spin of 1. Through the strong interaction, gluons bind quarks into groups according to quantum chromodynamics (QCD), forming hadrons such as protons and neutrons.
Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and neutrons, while the study of combination of protons and neutrons is called nuclear physics.
The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces in the universe and classifying all known elementary particles. It was developed in stages throughout the latter half of the 20th century, through the work of many scientists worldwide, with the current formulation being finalized in the mid-1970s upon experimental confirmation of the existence of quarks. Since then, proof of the top quark (1995), the tau neutrino (2000), and the Higgs boson (2012) have added further credence to the Standard Model. In addition, the Standard Model has predicted various properties of weak neutral currents and the W and Z bosons with great accuracy.
In quantum field theory, a force carrier is a type of particle that gives rise to forces between other particles. These particles serve as the quanta of a particular kind of physical field.
In physics, a subatomic particle is a particle smaller than an atom. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, a subatomic particle can be either a composite particle, which is composed of other particles, or an elementary particle, which is not composed of other particles. Particle physics and nuclear physics study these particles and how they interact. Most force carrying particles like photons or gluons are called bosons and, although they have discrete quanta of energy, do not have rest mass or discrete diameters and are unlike the former particles that have rest mass and cannot overlap or combine which are called fermions.
In particle physics, the W and Z bosons are vector bosons that are together known as the weak bosons or more generally as the intermediate vector bosons. These elementary particles mediate the weak interaction; the respective symbols are
W+
,
W−
, and
Z0
. The
W±
bosons have either a positive or negative electric charge of 1 elementary charge and are each other's antiparticles. The
Z0
boson is electrically neutral and is its own antiparticle. The three particles each have a spin of 1. The
W±
bosons have a magnetic moment, but the
Z0
has none. All three of these particles are very short-lived, with a half-life of about 3×10−25 s. Their experimental discovery was pivotal in establishing what is now called the Standard Model of particle physics.
In particle physics, a gauge boson is a bosonic elementary particle that acts as the force carrier for elementary fermions. Elementary particles whose interactions are described by a gauge theory interact with each other by the exchange of gauge bosons, usually as virtual particles.
In supergravity theories combining general relativity and supersymmetry, the gravitino is the gauge fermion supersymmetric partner of the hypothesized graviton. It has been suggested as a candidate for dark matter.
A chiral phenomenon is one that is not identical to its mirror image. The spin of a particle may be used to define a handedness, or helicity, for that particle, which, in the case of a massless particle, is the same as chirality. A symmetry transformation between the two is called parity transformation. Invariance under parity transformation by a Dirac fermion is called chiral symmetry.
In particle physics, deep inelastic scattering is the name given to a process used to probe the insides of hadrons, using electrons, muons and neutrinos. It was first attempted in the 1960s and 1970s and provided the first convincing evidence of the reality of quarks, which up until that point had been considered by many to be a purely mathematical phenomenon. It is an extension of Rutherford scattering to much higher energies of the scattering particle and thus to much finer resolution of the components of the nuclei.
Physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) refers to the theoretical developments needed to explain the deficiencies of the Standard Model, such as the inability to explain the fundamental parameters of the standard model, the strong CP problem, neutrino oscillations, matter–antimatter asymmetry, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Another problem lies within the mathematical framework of the Standard Model itself: the Standard Model is inconsistent with that of general relativity, and one or both theories break down under certain conditions, such as spacetime singularities like the Big Bang and black hole event horizons.
In theoretical particle physics, the non-commutative Standard Model, is a model based on noncommutative geometry that unifies a modified form of general relativity with the Standard Model.
The timeline of particle physics lists the sequence of particle physics theories and discoveries in chronological order. The most modern developments follow the scientific development of the discipline of particle physics.
In particle physics, a boson ( ) is a subatomic particle whose spin quantum number has an integer value. Bosons form one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particle, the other being fermions, which have odd half-integer spin. Every observed subatomic particle is either a boson or a fermion.
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