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.
The W bosons are named after the weak force. The physicist Steven Weinberg named the additional particle the " Z particle",[4] and later gave the explanation that it was the last additional particle needed by the model. The W bosons had already been named, and the Z bosons were named for having zero electric charge.[5]
The two W bosons are verified mediators of neutrino absorption and emission. During these processes, the W± boson charge induces electron or positron emission or absorption, thus causing nuclear transmutation.
The Z boson mediates the transfer of momentum, spin and energy when neutrinos scatter elastically from matter (a process which conserves charge). Such behavior is almost as common as inelastic neutrino interactions and may be observed in bubble chambers upon irradiation with neutrino beams. The Z boson is not involved in the absorption or emission of electrons or positrons. Whenever an electron is observed as a new free particle, suddenly moving with kinetic energy, it is inferred to be a result of a neutrino interacting with the electron (with the momentum transfer via the Z boson) since this behavior happens more often when the neutrino beam is present. In this process, the neutrino simply strikes the electron (via exchange of a boson) and then scatters away from it, transferring some of the neutrino's momentum to the electron.[a]
^ ab
Tanabashi, M.; et al. (Particle Data Group) (2018). "Review of Particle Physics". Physical Review D. 98 (3): 030001. Bibcode:2018PhRvD..98c0001T. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.98.030001. hdl:10044/1/68623.
^R. L. Workman et al. (Particle Data Group), "Mass and Width of the W Boson", Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2022, 083C01 (2022).
^ ab
Tanabashi, M.; et al. (Particle Data Group) (2018). "Review of Particle Physics". Physical Review D. 98 (3): 030001. Bibcode:2018PhRvD..98c0001T. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.98.030001. hdl:10044/1/68623.
^Weinberg, Steven (1967). "A Model of Leptons" (PDF). Physical Review Letters. 19 (21): 1264–1266. Bibcode:1967PhRvL..19.1264W. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.19.1264. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2012. — The electroweak unification paper.
^Weinberg, Steven (1993). Dreams of a Final Theory: The search for the fundamental laws of nature. Vintage Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-09-922391-7.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
physics, the WandZbosons are vector bosons that are together known as the weak bosons or more generally as the intermediate vector bosons. These elementary...
particle physics, a vector boson is a boson whose spin equals one. Vector bosons that are also elementary particles are gauge bosons, the force carriers of...
charge, and the WandZbosons have no "flavour". Even-mass-number nuclides comprise 153 / 254 = 60% of all stable nuclides. They are bosons, i.e. they...
giving the weak force's WandZbosons their mass, and doing it in a way that did not create Goldstone bosons. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, physicists...
physics, the X and Y bosons (sometimes collectively called "X bosons": 437 ) are hypothetical elementary particles analogous to the WandZbosons, but corresponding...
can exchange three types of force carriers, namely W+, W−, andZbosons. The masses of these bosons are far greater than the mass of a proton or neutron...
interaction, the carriers of the weak force are the massive gauge bosons called the WandZbosons. The weak interaction is the only known interaction that does...
masses of the WandZbosons, and the masses of the fermions, i.e. the quarks and leptons. After the neutral weak currents caused by Zboson exchange were...
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...
experimentally. Just as the photon, ZbosonandW± bosons are superpositions of the B0, W0, W1, and W2 fields, the photino, zino, and wino± are superpositions of...
Standard Model, vector (spin-1) bosons (gluons, photons, and the WandZbosons) mediate forces, whereas the Higgs boson (spin-0) is responsible for the...
In particle and condensed matter physics, Goldstone bosons or Nambu–Goldstone bosons (NGBs) are bosons that appear necessarily in models exhibiting spontaneous...
strong and weak forces, and their associated field bosons. For the gravitational and electromagnetic forces, the zero rest-mass of the associated boson particle...
CERN. The experiment ran from 1981 until 1990, and its main objective was to discover the WandZbosons. UA2, together with the UA1 experiment, succeeded...
ordinary matter (leptons and quarks) are elementary fermions, while all the force carriers are elementary bosons. The WandZbosons that mediate the weak...
Standard Model, there are also bosons, including the photons and gluons; W+, W−, andZbosons; and the Higgs boson; and an open space left for the graviton...
electromagnetism and the weak force into the electroweak force, and led to the discovery of the WandZbosons. The weak force is best known for its role in nuclear...
J/psi meson and the charmed baryons created in particle accelerator collisions. Several bosons, including the WandZbosonsand the Higgs boson, can decay...
charge and therefore feel the strong interaction, and the leptons which do not. The elementary bosons comprise the gauge bosons (photon, WandZ, gluons)...
and electromagnetic fundamental interactions, using mediating gauge bosons. The species of gauge bosons are eight gluons, W− , W+ andZbosons, and the...