boson

noun

bo·son | \ ˈbō-ˌsän

How to pronounce boson (audio)

, -ˌzän

How to pronounce boson (audio)

\

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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Examples of boson in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web This happens when the quarks exchange a particle called a W boson — one of the carriers of the weak force, with an electric charge of either +1 or −1. — Quanta Magazine, "A New Map of All the Particles and Forces," 22 Oct. 2020 But a dark boson could create a small attraction, shifting the electron’s energy levels in a discernible fashion. — Daniel Garisto, Scientific American, "Possibility of Dark Bosons Entices Physicists," 30 Sep. 2020 Thus, while the 27km tunnel that houses the LHC was originally built to study the Z boson using electrons and positrons, CERN replaced the hardware with a proton collider to discover the Higgs: the Large Hadron Collider. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Europe officially sets its sights on a giant LHC successor," 25 June 2020 Malia White spent her first-ever charter season on the deck of Sirocco in season 2, and has since worked her way up in the industry to return as boson on the Wellington in season 5. — Jean Bentley, refinery29.com, "Captain Sandy Says Below Deck Is Changing The Yachting Industry," 22 June 2020 As a bonus, the Zʹ boson would also imply the existence of an additional massive particle that could make up the universe’s missing dark matter. — Quanta Magazine, "Growing Anomalies at the Large Hadron Collider Raise Hopes," 26 May 2020 And, a new boson means a new force, which is even more exciting. — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, "New boson appears in nuclear decay, breaks standard model," 20 Dec. 2019 The breaking of the Higgs symmetry created massive spin-1 particles called W and Z bosons, the carriers of the weak force that’s responsible for radioactive decay. — Quanta Magazine, "Why the Laws of Physics Are Inevitable," 9 Dec. 2019 Same experiment, different atom, but the same 17MeV boson was found. — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, "New boson appears in nuclear decay, breaks standard model," 20 Dec. 2019

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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Last Updated

20 Jan 2021

Cite this Entry

“Boson.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boson. Accessed 4 Mar. 2021.

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