meson

American  

[mee-zon, ‑son, mez-on, mes‑] / ˈmi zɒn, ‑sɒn, ˈmɛz ɒn, ˈmɛs‑ /

noun

1. Physics. any hadron, or strongly interacting particle, other than a baryon. Mesons are bosons, having spins of 0, 1, 2, …, and, unlike baryons, do not obey a conservation law.

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meson British  

/ ˈmiːzɒn /

noun

1. Former name: mesotron.  any of a group of elementary particles, such as a pion or kaon, that usually has a rest mass between those of an electron and a proton, and an integral spin. They are responsible for the force between nucleons in the atomic nucleus See also muon

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meson Scientific  

/ mĕz′ŏn′,mĕs′-,mē′zŏn′,-sŏn′ /

1. Any of a family of subatomic particles that are composed of a quark and an antiquark. Their masses are generally intermediate between leptons and baryons, and they can have positive, negative, or neutral charge. Mesons form a subclass of hadrons and include the kaon, pion and J/psi particles. Mesons were originally believed to be the particles that mediated the strong nuclear force, but it has since been shown that the gluon mediates this force.

2. See Table at subatomic particle

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meson Cultural  

1. An elementary particle in the atomic nucleus.

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Other Word Forms

• mesonic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of meson

1935–40; mes- + -on ¹ ( def. ); cf. mesotron

Example Sentences

In this case we study how the B meson decays into four other subatomic particles – a kaon, a pion and two muons.

From Science Daily • May 26, 2026

"One particle of particular interest is the η′ meson," says senior author Kenta Itahashi.

From Science Daily • Apr. 25, 2026

The track she was looking at, later labelled k, was evidence of an unknown particle, now known as the kaon or K meson.

From BBC • Jul. 23, 2024

To test the new hypothesis, the Brookhaven scientists plan to re-create their experiment with a different meson, called the J/psi meson, which is made of a quark-antiquark pair of a different favor.

From Scientific American • Feb. 2, 2023

Yet through 1947, Lawrence’s attempts to capture an artificially produced meson on photographic film were unavailing.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik