Dictionary

proto-photon en · NOUN

Etymology

From proto- + photon.

Meanings

1. (rare) A theoretical but not yet detected particle proposed to explain, among other things, the mechanisms of gravity; a gauge boson.
   • Since the proto-photon has no charge, it does not seem likely that we could detect such "orbital" motion for the electron-photon system. 1966, Michael M. Hare, Microcosm and macrocosm:
   • Notice that here we slightly deviate from traditional VMD-2 because we include a direct coupling between the pions and the proto-photon. 2007, Acta Physica Polonica - Volume 38, Issues 5-6, page 2080:
   • It is shown how the assumption that a singlet gauge boson (a proto-photon) and the neutral member of a triplet W=t° are mixed leads to the identification of the couplings of the quarks and leptons to the neutral intermediate boson Z°. 2012, M. G. Bowler, Femtophysics: A Short Course on Particle Physics, →ISBN, page viii:

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