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

This device allowed scientists to detect high-energy protons leaving the target and identify signals that indicate an η′ meson had been created and captured within the nucleus.

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

The most frequent decay pattern produced another type of meson, called a kaon, plus pairs of particles and their antiparticles—either an electron and a positron or a muon and an antimuon.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 22, 2022

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

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Among the newly discovered hadrons were short-lived particles called mesons.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026

One promising approach involves mesons, which are particles made of a quark and an anti-quark, bound together with an atomic nucleus.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026

Under certain conditions, short-lived particles known as mesons, which exist for less than ten-millionth of a second, can become temporarily trapped inside an atomic nucleus.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026

If phi mesons can add to the strong force field, their cousins should, too—and J/psi mesons’ spin polarizations should be similarly impacted by the resulting fluctuations.

From Scientific American ● Feb. 2, 2023

Such combinations make up the particles known as mesons, which are unstable because the quark and antiquark can annihilate each other, producing electrons and other particles.

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