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strange particle

American  

noun

Physics.

  1. any elementary particle with a strangeness quantum number other than zero.

strange particle Scientific  

  1. Any of various unstable elementary particles, having a short half-life and a nonzero strangeness quantum number. Sigma and xi baryons, for example, are strange particles.

Etymology

Origin of strange particle

First recorded in 1955–60; originally so called because of the anomalously long decay time of such particles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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