meson

American  

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

noun

• mesons
  plural

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

Derived Forms

• mesonic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mesons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of meson

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

meson mesons

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

From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026

The results also suggest that the mass of the η′ meson may decrease when it is inside nuclear matter.

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

One of these bizarre particles, called the phi meson, sits at the heart of these latest befuddling results.

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

This penguin decay is incredibly rare in the Standard Model: for every million B mesons, only one will decay in this manner.

From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026

We investigated how these B mesons decay into other particles, finding that the particular way in which this happens disagrees with the predictions of the Standard Model.

From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026

This process excited the carbon nuclei and produced η′ mesons, which in some cases became bound to the nucleus.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026

This could have pointed to the existence of previously unseen elementary particles that affect the decay of B mesons.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 22, 2022

For the better part of a year, the Rad Lab had been trying to produce mesons, the most sought- after and elusive subatomic particles of the moment, in the restored 184- inch cyclotron.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik