vector boson

1. One of the four subatomic particles that mediate the four fundamental forces. The particles and their corresponding forces are: the photon and the electromagnetic force, the graviton and the gravitational force, the intermediate vector boson and the weak nuclear force, and the gluon and the strong nuclear force. The graviton has yet to be isolated in an experiment.

Example Sentences

To detect this decay, the collaborations looked for a particular process in which two quarks arising from colliding protons fuse to form a weak vector boson — a force carrier of the weak nuclear interaction.

From Nature

Figure 1 | Production of the Higgs boson together with a weak vector boson.

From Nature

The weak vector boson emits a Higgs boson that decays to bottom quarks.

From Nature