muon

American  

[myoo-on] / ˈmyu ɒn /

noun

Physics.

1. a lepton similar in most respects to the electron except that it is unstable, it may be positively charged, and its mass is approximately 207 times greater; the positively charged muon is the antiparticle of the negatively charged muon. μ

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muon British  

/ ˈmjuːɒn, mjuːˈɒnɪk /

noun

1. a positive or negative elementary particle with a mass 207 times that of an electron and spin 1/ 2 . It was originally called the mu meson but is now classified as a lepton

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muon Scientific  

/ myo̅o̅′ŏn′ /

1. An elementary particle in the lepton family having a mass 209 times that of the electron, a negative electric charge, and a mean lifetime of 2.2 × 10 ^{- 6} seconds. The muon was originally called the mu-meson and was once thought to be a meson.

2. See Table at subatomic particle

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Other Word Forms

• muonic adjective

Etymology

Origin of muon

1950–55; by shortening of mu meson; mu, -on ¹

Example Sentences

Scientists realized that neutrinos come in three forms, known as electron, muon, and tau flavors, and that these flavors can change as neutrinos move through space.

From Science Daily

According to the Standard Model, which is the leading framework in particle physics, there are three known types of neutrinos: electron, muon and tau.

From Science Daily

SNO+ is a successor to the earlier SNO experiment, which demonstrated that neutrinos switch between three forms known as electron, muon, and tau neutrinos as they travel from the Sun to Earth.

From Science Daily

In the normal case, muon neutrinos are more likely to become electron neutrinos, while their antimatter partners are less likely to do so.

From Science Daily

To make a muon collider, physicists will have to generate muons, wrangle them into compact beams, and smash them together in the few milliseconds before the particles decay.

From Science Magazine