Higgs bosonThe Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Standard Model, the Higgs particle is a massive scalar boson with zero spin, even (positive) parity, no electric charge, and no colour charge that couples to (interacts with) mass. It is also very unstable, decaying into other particles almost immediately upon generation.
CP violationIn particle physics, CP violation is a violation of CP-symmetry (or charge conjugation parity symmetry): the combination of C-symmetry (charge symmetry) and P-symmetry (parity symmetry). CP-symmetry states that the laws of physics should be the same if a particle is interchanged with its antiparticle (C-symmetry) while its spatial coordinates are inverted ("mirror" or P-symmetry). The discovery of CP violation in 1964 in the decays of neutral kaons resulted in the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1980 for its discoverers James Cronin and Val Fitch.
Gauge bosonIn 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. Photons, W and Z bosons, and gluons are gauge bosons. All known gauge bosons have a spin of 1; for comparison, the Higgs boson has spin zero and the hypothetical graviton has a spin of 2. Therefore, all known gauge bosons are vector bosons.
Vector bosonIn particle physics, a vector boson is a boson whose spin equals one. The vector bosons that are regarded as elementary particles in the Standard Model are the gauge bosons, the force carriers of fundamental interactions: the photon of electromagnetism, the W and Z bosons of the weak interaction, and the gluons of the strong interaction. Some composite particles are vector bosons, for instance any vector meson (quark and antiquark).
BosonIn particle physics, a boson (ˈboʊzɒn ˈboʊsɒn) is a subatomic particle whose spin quantum number has an integer value (0, 1, 2, ...). 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. Some bosons are elementary particles occupying a special role in particle physics, distinct from the role of fermions (which are sometimes described as the constituents of "ordinary matter").
Scalar bosonA scalar boson is a boson whose spin equals zero. A boson is a particle whose wave function is symmetric under particle exchange and therefore follows Bose–Einstein statistics. The spin–statistics theorem implies that all bosons have an integer-valued spin. Scalar bosons are the subset of bosons with zero-valued spin. The name scalar boson arises from quantum field theory, which demands that fields of spin-zero particles transform like a scalar under Lorentz transformation (i.e. are Lorentz invariant).
W and Z bosonsIn 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 boson+, _W boson-, and _Z boson0. The _W boson+- bosons have either a positive or negative electric charge of 1 elementary charge and are each other's antiparticles. The _Z boson0 boson is electrically neutral and is its own antiparticle. The three particles each have a spin of 1.
KaonIn particle physics, a kaon (ˈkeɪ.ɒn), also called a K meson and denoted _Kaon, is any of a group of four mesons distinguished by a quantum number called strangeness. In the quark model they are understood to be bound states of a strange quark (or antiquark) and an up or down antiquark (or quark). Kaons have proved to be a copious source of information on the nature of fundamental interactions since their discovery in cosmic rays in 1947.
Baryon asymmetryIn physical cosmology, the baryon asymmetry problem, also known as the matter asymmetry problem or the matter–antimatter asymmetry problem, is the observed imbalance in baryonic matter (the type of matter experienced in everyday life) and antibaryonic matter in the observable universe. Neither the standard model of particle physics nor the theory of general relativity provides a known explanation for why this should be so, and it is a natural assumption that the universe is neutral with all conserved charges.
Large Hadron ColliderThe Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories, as well as more than 100 countries. It lies in a tunnel in circumference and as deep as beneath the France–Switzerland border near Geneva. The first collisions were achieved in 2010 at an energy of 3.
