Article
Article
Intermediate vector boson
Article By:
Rohlf, James W. Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Last reviewed:April 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.349250
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- Intermediate vector boson, published August 2020:Download PDF
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One of the three fundamental particles that transmit the weak force. The three intermediate vector bosons are known as the W+, W− , and Z0 particles or bosons. were discovered in 1983 in very high energy proton-antiproton collisions. It is through the exchange of W and Z bosons that two particles interact weakly—that is, through weak nuclear interactions—just as it is through the exchange of photons that two charged particles interact electromagnetically. As elementary particles, the intermediate vector bosons are described by the standard model of particle physics (Fig. 1). See also: Elementary particle; Fundamental interaction; Standard model; Weak nuclear interactions
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