boson

boson (bo´sòn) noun
Any of a class of particles, such as the photon, pion, or alpha particle, that have zero or integral spin and obey statistical rules permitting any number of identical particles to occupy the same quantum state.
[After Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974), Indian physicist.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.

boson, any of a group of elementary particles that have integral values of the quantum mechanical property called spin and are "gregarious" in that an unlimited number of them can exist in the same quantum state. Bosons, which include the PHOTON, gluon, W AND Z PARTICLES and the proposed graviton, carry the fundamental forces of nature. Bose-Einstein statistics describe the behavior of systems of bosons. See FERMION, STATISTICAL MECHANICS.

The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1995 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.