What is Boson: Definition and 371 Discussions

In quantum mechanics, a boson (, ) is a particle that follows Bose–Einstein statistics. Bosons make up one of two classes of elementary particles, the other being fermions. The name boson was coined by Paul Dirac to commemorate the contribution of Satyendra Nath Bose, an Indian physicist and professor of physics at University of Calcutta and at University of Dhaka in developing, with Albert Einstein, Bose–Einstein statistics, which theorizes the characteristics of elementary particles.Examples of bosons are fundamental particles such as photons, gluons, and W and Z bosons (the four force-carrying gauge bosons of the Standard Model), the recently discovered Higgs boson, and the hypothetical graviton of quantum gravity. Some composite particles are also bosons, such as mesons and stable nuclei of even mass number such as deuterium (with one proton and one neutron, atomic mass number = 2), helium-4, and lead-208; as well as some quasiparticles (e.g. Cooper pairs, plasmons, and phonons).An important characteristic of bosons is that there is no restriction on the number of them that occupy the same quantum state. This property is exemplified by helium-4 when it is cooled to become a superfluid. Unlike bosons, two identical fermions cannot occupy the same quantum state. Whereas the elementary particles that make up matter (i.e. leptons and quarks) are fermions, the elementary bosons are force carriers that function as the 'glue' holding matter together. This property holds for all particles with integer spin (s = 0, 1, 2, etc.) as a consequence of the spin–statistics theorem.
When a gas of Bose particles is cooled down to temperatures very close to absolute zero, then the kinetic energy of the particles decreases to a negligible amount, and they condense into the lowest energy level state. This state is called a Bose–Einstein condensate. This property is also the explanation for superfluidity.

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  1. ohwilleke

    B The Latest Higgs Boson Mass Measurements

    It is summer conference season for physicists and one of the highlights this time around is the first set of new Large Hadron Collider Run-2 measurements of the Higgs boson mass. The Status Quo At the end of Run-1 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the combined estimate of the Higgs boson...
  2. L

    I Feynman diagram of the Vector Boson Fusion

    Hi, I would like to ask you how to properly describe the Feynman diagram of the Vector Boson Fusion where the Higgs boson is produced. Two quarks scatters two vector bosons (that means boson W or Z) at some moment which influence each other and produce the Higgs boson. Is that right...
  3. W

    A CP Properties of the SM Higgs boson

    The SM Higgs-boson is a CP-even state, as far as I know this is confirmed in the Higgs decay to di Z bosons, so why there are dozen of papers that propose to measure CP quantum number of the Higgs in tau tau final state?, what is the difference between CP in ZZ and tt of Higgs decay ?
  4. Goatman

    I How do physicists know when they’ve found a Higgs boson?

    I know the Higgs field and the capabilities of the Higgs Boson, but I could never understand how physicists concluded the finding of a Higgs Boson
  5. I

    I Can a Z Boson Decay to a Photon Affect Its Weak Charge?

    If a Z can decay to a photon, what happens to the Z's weak charge?
  6. kiwaho

    A Photon number needless conservation, consolidation possible?

    We know lepton conservation law, that means multiple neutrinos can not be consolidate to big single neutrino. But photon is boson not lepton, no need of conservation, does that mean it is possible to combine or fuse a bunch of photons into ONE big photon, or say, more energetic photon, i.e...
  7. M

    I ## k^0-\bar{k^0} ## mixing and gauge boson propagator

    Hi all , I'm studying ## k^0-\bar{k^0} ## mixing from Cheng & Li's book "gauge_theory_of_elementary_particle_physics", page: 379 , I found that they consider the gauge boson propagator in the Feynman gauge, where ## i\Delta_{\mu\nu} = -i \frac{g_{\mu\nu}}{k^2-M^2_W} ## , but till my knowledge...
  8. J

    I Can the SM accomodate an anti-Higgs boson?

    I naively imagine that a higgs & an a-higgs can annihilate by photon emission, similar to all SM particles. Is this a-higgs permitted by the SM & does the discovery of the higgs strongly suggest the a-higgs exists ?
  9. Vibin Narayanan

    B Gauge Boson Exchange: Do Particles Influence Each Other?

    Do a particle influence another particle by exchange of gauge bosons? If so, how?
  10. K

    I Higgs Boson, Electrons and Spin

    I have two questions... I'm sorry for my bad English. - Is it correct to think of the Higgs Boson as a quantization of the Higgs Field, as the photon is the quanta of Electromagnetic Field? - The property we call spin appears when we analyze electrons interacting with a magnetic field. But...
  11. G

    B Why was the name Higgs given to the boson?

    In 1964 three papers were published, Why was Peter's name chosen for the boson? Who chose it? 1) Belgian physicists Robert Brout and Francois Englert Physical Review of Letters, Volume 13, number 9, August 31, 1964, Pages 321-323...
  12. 1

    I I don't understand this Feynman Diagram

    Question: Draw the lowest-order Feynman diagrams for the e+e- --> W+W-process The answer gives three diagrams. I understand the first two, but the third makes no sense to me. Here it is: So this is a t-channel Feynman diagram. As far as I can tell regarding how these types of Feynman diagrams...
  13. Ontophobe

    B FTL Spin 1 Gauge Boson: Impact of Dark Matter Discovery

    What would be the ramifications of discovering that a) dark matter radiates something non-electromagnetic, and that b) this radiation always travels at a constant velocity according to all inertial reference frames, but c) this constant velocity is equal to, say, c times pi?
  14. K

    I What is the Madala boson at LHC?

    anyone have any idea what the Madala boson that supposedly is found in LHC data? obviously it is proposed to explain dark matter, but it is a spin-0 field related to the Higgs. claim is that Madala boson mediates the dark sector. supposedly a 3-sigma excess at 270 GeVScientists predict the...
  15. K

    I Clarification of Higgs field, Higgs boson and gravitons

    since gravity under GR has unlimited range the graviton must be massless. since the graviton is massless, the higgs field does not couple to the graviton. If the higgs field did couple to gravitons, it would cause gravitons to have mass, contradicting observation. but the higgs field carries...
  16. ohwilleke

    I Higgs Boson Mass Trending Down At ICHEP

    The latest measurement of the Higgs boson mass from the ICHEP conference (based upon four lepton events measured by CMS) was 124.5 +0.48/-0.46 GeV. This is less than the current global average of about 125.09 +/- 0.24 GeV, which is statistically consistent with the global average but will...
  17. K

    A Implications of a new 17 Mev vector boson on Higgs, SUSY

    regarding this paper Evidence for a Protophobic Fifth Force from 8Be Nuclear Transitions Jonathan L. Feng, Bartosz Fornal, Iftah Galon, Susan Gardner, Jordan Smolinsky, Tim M. P. Tait, Philip Tanedo (Submitted on 25 Apr 2016) Recently a 6.8σ anomaly has been reported in the opening angle and...
  18. zdroide

    B H boson is 125 GeV, super symmetry, multiverse not possible?

    What other theories this number make impossible or improbable. When final number was given I hear some older physicist saying for one " 40 years of works gone" second grinding "only 30 for me!" We are ask to follow establish science. Seem to me that lots of theories was built on other's ones and...
  19. KarminValso1724

    B How were the properties of the Higgs boson accuratly predicted?

    What I mean by this is how were the laws of quantum mechanics used to predict that the higgs boson would decay into 2 photons or 4 electrons. I understand that the higgs boson transmits the higgs field, but why would a particle that transmits the higgs field have to decay in that wayand not some...
  20. Peter25samaha

    A Can Theoretical Physicists Discover New Aspects of the Higgs Boson?

    What can a theoretical physicist discover something new about the higgs boson . This is for experimentalist but can a theoretical physicist discover anything new about the higgs boson ? And what peter higgs discovered other than detected it . He is a theoretical physicist did he wrote a new...
  21. C

    B Does the Higgs boson only exist when created in LHC?

    Greetings, I have read seemingly contradictory things regarding the Higgs boson: that they permeate all of space and that it was created at extremely high energies in the LHC. I just heard a scientist say the Higgs field is full of HIggs bosons. So does the Higgs boson occur naturally or not...
  22. Natskyge

    How can the Higgs boson have mass?

    So this may be just me being stupid. Anyway, so i was reading about the higgs and i read it has been found in LHC to have a mass of 125 Gev, according to their expriments. Now here comes what i don't understand, how can the particle that gives mass have mass, and wouldn't that cause the higgs...
  23. T

    Association between W Boson Decay and Leptons

    As a physics A Level student, I am interested in understanding particle physics. Recently I have read that a W boson, as a relatively heavy particle, decays into one of three charged anti-leptons, and one of the three neutrinos. If a W boson decays to form an anti-tau lepton, it will also form a...
  24. arupel

    The Higgs Boson and General Relativity

    "The presence of this field, now believed to be confirmed, explains why some fundamental particles have mass when based on the symmetries controlling their interactions they should be massless." (wiki) It would seem, to myself, a novice, that the Higgs field and its corresponding particle, if...
  25. andrex904

    Exploring Parity & Charge Conjugation in Z Boson Decay

    Considering a Z boson decay into a fermion-antifermion pair. How can i say if the process respect parity and charge conjugation?Thanks
  26. andrex904

    Computing Differential Decay of W Boson at Rest

    Hi, I'm trying to compute the differential decay of W boson at rest $$W^+ \rightarrow e^+ \nu_e$$ where the boson has fixed spin along z axis, and so specific cirular polarization. Using Feynman rules i get...
  27. T

    Criteria for boson and Bose Einstein Condensate

    The answer is given as (a). I want to know the reason. It is a boson. Why can't it form a Bose-Einstein condensate?
  28. D

    Why can't there be other Boson particle clusters

    I most recently heard about the new mathematics that help predict glueballs properties better. I had the really strange question of, why can't all other bosons have a cluster particle, like the glueball. Is it due to there force strength over distance or am I missing something.
  29. M

    SM neutrinos coupling to Z boson

    Hi All 1. Homework Statement with the known coupling strenght between SM neutrinos and Z boson Z_{\mu} \bar{\nu}_{L} { \gamma}^{ \mu} \nu_{L} how can I get the coupling strength for Dirac neutrinos Z_{\mu} \bar{\nu}_{Dirac} { \gamma}^{ \mu} (1- { \gamma}_{ 5} ) \nu_{Dirac} ? thanks
  30. K

    How Do You Construct Excited States in a Two-Boson Harmonic Oscillator?

    hy physics forum, I am doing an advanced qm course, but i still have some doubts about the correct formalism and so on.. so i have this problem of a one-dimensional harm. oscillator including 2 bosons. the hamiltonian would thus be ## \hat{H}=1/2 (\hat{p_1}^2+\hat{p_2}^2+\omega...
  31. Q

    Higgs Boson Decays into Dark MAtter

    I recently read this article about how the Higgs Boson could decay into Dark Matter particles. Why is this not being taken seriously, there must be something, and I am not a physicist, just a ninth grade student, so why is this either a good theory or bad theory? Thanks in advance! Here is the...
  32. K

    Scalar interactions amd chirality

    why do scalar interactions(for example the higgs vev or its components) reverse the chirality of the interacting particle?? i think this is the key for understanding the mass generation of fermions, but i can't think of a logical reason of the reversed chirality.
  33. erbilsilik

    Understanding Boson Systems: Resources & Tutorials

    Homework Statement What is boson? Quantum mechanical properties of bosons. Statistical properties of bosons. Applications of bose systems. Thermodynamic and statistics properties of ideal bose gas. Homework Equations Looking for a good resources for undergraduate or graduate level. The...
  34. Eli137

    Mass of Higgs Boson: 125 GeV: How Do Particles Create Mass?

    As you may know, the mass of the Higgs Boson is 125 GeV. My question is, "How can the particles themselves that create mass by interacting with others have mass?"
  35. H

    Scalar fields and the Higgs boson

    This is more of a QFT question, so the moderator may want to move it to another forum. The simplest example of a QFT that I learned was the scalar field; in Sakurai's 1967 textbook. I know the Higgs is a J=0 particle. Is it described by the simple scalar field discussed in Sakurai's text? I ask...
  36. Q

    The Higgs Boson and Dark Matter

    I have been looking into Dark Matter recently and how we know really little about it to even try to identify what it is clearly. But Dark Matter obiously has mass which means that in some way it must be interacting with the Higgs Field. So could studying the Higgs Boson and comparing its...
  37. Swetha.M.L

    Is Higgs boson massless or does it gain mass when interacting with water?

    Is higgs boson massless? Photon is massless , is photon get mass when interract with water?
  38. S

    What Happens When a Street Urchin Walks Into the Higgs Boson Analogy?

    i was thinking about the Higgs Boson analogy that was put forward to help describe how it works/interacts to produce mass, of a very famous person walking into a party, everyone gathers round impedes progress, high interaction with Higgs field and particles therefore high mass, and then a less...
  39. N

    Exploring the Higgs Boson and Photons: What Gives Mass to Particles?

    Is highs boson a subatomic particle? If so what gives it mass. I mean if Higgs boson give mass to other particles then what gives mass to Higgs boson? Also could anyone explain how it can give mass to other particles? I would also like to ask about the light photons. How come they hon have mass...
  40. Anchovy

    Understanding SU(5) gauge boson matrix?

    I have questions regarding the 24 gauge bosons of the SU(5) model. I keep seeing this matrix popping up in the documents I'm reading with no real explanation of why: First of all I'm wondering how this is constructed, which means I'm wondering what the V_{\mu}^{a} look like (I already have...
  41. M

    Properties of boson in $\phi^4$ theory

    I'm looking at the simplest example of an interacting theory, and this is the theory of a neutral scalar boson $\phi$ with $\lambda \phi^4$ interaction term. Can I ask: is there a physical interpretation of the `charge' through which this field interacts with itself? In particular, is \lambda...
  42. QuantumKangaroo

    Difference between Photons and the Higgs Boson?

    I'm new to quantum physics, and this might be a stupid question. What is the difference between Photons and the Higgs Boson? I know that neither of them interact with the Higgs field. And that when CERN found the Higgs Boson, it decayed into other particles INCLUDING photons. So what's the...
  43. U

    Production of Z boson - Cross Section

    Homework Statement Calculate the ratio ##R = \frac{\sigma_{had}}{\sigma_{\mu+\mu-}}## for energy around ##10~GeV##. At sufficiently high energies, the ##e^+e^- \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-## reaction can proceed via the ##Z^0## boson. Assuming vertex factors for EM and weak interaction are the same...
  44. S

    Do you believe the Higgs boson was experimentally confirmed?

    Do you believe the Higgs boson was already experimentally confirmed? I guess that, as with any elementary particle, the Higgs boson should have a lot of theoretical properties that must all be experimentally confirmed to be sure it is Higgs' and not some other entity. Have the scientists...
  45. N

    Uncertainty Principle & W Boson Energy (Mass): Higgs Reconciled?

    I have read that W boson get their energy (mass) by temporarily breaking the energy conservation laws in accordance with the Uncertainty principle. I have also read that the W bosons get their mass through the Higgs mechanism. How are these two things reconciled? Is this the distinction...
  46. psuedoben

    Do boson's have anti-particle versions of themselves?

    i have been researching this question and have so far not found a conclusive answer. i have read in a few places that bosons may even be their own anti particles, but a) i don't understand what this means, and b) this idea doesn't seem to be consistent between articles. hopefully someone on this...
  47. Swetha.M.L

    Unravelling the Mystery of Higgs boson and Light Particles

    from a malayalam language newspaper i read about Higgsboson that is according to standard model the Higgsboson is the piece of the atom that endows all the other piece with their mass. when electrons,quarks,etc are associated with higgs field they get mass. the light particle called photons have...
  48. U

    Special H boson with very high cross section?

    Homework Statement (a) Explain the results. (b) Why is the cross section much higher? Suggest the dominant decay product pair.[/B] Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution [/B] Part(a) For a centre of mass energy of ##170GeV##, you produce pairs of oppositely charged ##W^{\pm},W^{\mp}##...
  49. sk1105

    Why is the electroweak cross-section zero at Z boson mass?

    The Standard Model formula for the cross-section of ##e^+e^-\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-## is made up of 3 components: QED interactions, weak interactions, and electroweak interference. I understand the behaviour of the QED part, and the resonance that occurs in the weak part at ##\sqrt{s}=M_Z##, but...
  50. Vailanor

    What discoveries has the LHC made besides the Higgs Boson?

    Seeing as how the LHC is going to reboot soon, I am rather curious about what discoveries the LHC has made besides the Higgs Boson. I am also curious about what the LHC will be doing soon. I would also like more details about the Particle Physics field in a whole because it seems incredibly...
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