massless

American  

[mas-lis] / ˈmæs lɪs /

adjective

Physics.

1. pertaining to an elementary particle having zero rest mass, as a photon.

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Other Word Forms

• masslessness noun

Etymology

Origin of massless

First recorded in 1875–80; mass + -less

Example Sentences

"Qin and I showed that using topology," Palmerduca said, "we can modify Wigner's classification for massless particles, giving a description of photons that works in all directions at the same time."

From Science Daily • May 23, 2024

In 1964, Higgs figured out how otherwise massless particles could gain mass by interacting with a quantum field consisting of Higgs bosons lurking in the vacuum of space.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 10, 2024

It’s an esoteric search with very real implications—if just one parameter of the Higgs were positive instead of negative, for instance, atoms would have never formed because massless electrons would never stay in their orbit.

From Scientific American • Aug. 28, 2023

Posting publicly on Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram is a lot like using a megaphone to scream to a large, massless, faceless crowd.

From Slate • Nov. 30, 2022

The electromagnetic attraction is pictured as being caused by the exchange of large numbers of virtual massless particles of spin 1, called photons.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking