boson

noun

bo·son | \ ˈbō-ˌsän,

\

Definition of boson

: a particle (such as a photon or meson) whose spin quantum number is zero or an integral number — compare fermion

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According to the plan, the CEPC should be able to make a million Higgs particles over a decade, along with millions of other rare particles like W and Z bosons. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "China Plans to Build a Particle Collider Five Times More Powerful Than the LHC," 14 Nov. 2018 After ten years of making bosons, the CEPC will be retired. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "China Plans to Build a Particle Collider Five Times More Powerful Than the LHC," 14 Nov. 2018 Other elementary particles—those that researchers don’t believe can be divided any further—include six flavors of leptons and the Higgs, known as a scalar boson. — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "The Large Hadron Collider Is Getting A Huge Power Boost," 19 June 2018 But there’s much more—protons and neutrons are made up of quarks held together by gluons, one of several types of boson. — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "The Large Hadron Collider Is Getting A Huge Power Boost," 19 June 2018 By contrast, another hypothetical particle, the dark axial vector boson, isn't ruled out by this new measurement. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "A physical constant’s value shouldn’t depend on how you measure it," 13 Apr. 2018 Particles like photons, on the other hand, are bosons. — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, "Giant atom hides its neighbors under a single-electron skirt," 7 Mar. 2018 The app was created by Swedish physicist Elina Berglund, who was part of the team that discovered the Higgs boson particle. — Emily Matchar, Smithsonian, "Apps Can Help You Get Pregnant. But Should You Use Them As a Contraceptive?," 22 Aug. 2017 The Large Hadron Collider, located in a 27-kilometer (16.8-mile) tunnel beneath the Swiss-French border, was instrumental in the discovery of the Higgs boson. — Seth Borenstein, The Seattle Times, "Physicists find new particle with a double dose of charm," 6 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'boson.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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26 Dec 2018

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The first known use of boson was in 1947

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