# What are the types of bosons?

1. Nov 21, 2003

### benzun_1999

Hi all,

what are Bosons? What are the types of bosons? I know a bit about Z Boson and W boson.

-Benzun
All For God.

2. Nov 21, 2003

### futz

Bosons are particles that have integer spin, i.e. 0, 1, 2, etc. and obey Bose-Einstein statistics.

3. Nov 21, 2003

### lethe

bosons are particles with integer spin. they obey bose-einstein statistics, which means that they do not obey the Pauli exclusion principle: you can have as many of them in a quantum state as you want.

all gauge particles (the particles that mediate interactions) are bosons, like the W and the Z. the photon and the gluon are also bosons. as is the graviton and the Higgs.

bosonic fields satisfy canonical commutation relations, instead of canonical anticommutation relations for fermions.

4. Nov 21, 2003

### mormonator_rm

Mesons/di-quarks are also bosons. Because they are composites of two fermions (in this case quarks), they have an integer net spin. When you look at the spectroscopy of the mesons, the Bose-Einstein distribution of energy levels becomes apparent. In just the first radially excited state, you can technically have an infinite number of angular momentum states. So the energy levels of the mesons proceed as 1S, 1P, 1D, 1F, and so on, and also 2S, 2P, 2D, 2F, and on and on. The baryons, which follow Fermi-Dirac statistics, have a limited number of angular momentum states in each radial. They proceed as 0S, 1S, 2S, 2P, 3S, and so on. This example shows the contrast between the mesons (which are bosons) and the baryons (which are fermions).