Weak interactions intermediate vector boson

The weak interaction, some lO times weaker than the electrom neUc interaction, occurs between "leptons and in the decay of hadrons. It is responsible for the "beta decay of particles and nuclei. In the current model, the weak interaction is visualized as a force mediated by the exchange of virtual particles, called intermediate vector bosons. The weak interactions are described by "electro-weak theory, which unifies them with the electromagnetic interactions. 

W boson (W particle) Either of a pair of elementary particles (W or W ), classified as intermediate vector bosons, that are believed to transmit the weak interaction (see FUNDAMENTAL INTERACTIONS) in much the same way as photons transmit the electromagnetic interaction. They are not, however, massless like photons, and are believed to... 

The coupling of the was designed to agree exactly with the intermediate vector boson description of the weak interactions which in turn was designed to reproduce the highly successful four-fermion Fermi description, at least for momentum transfers such that This... 

Later, when we come to discuss intermediate vector mesons or gauge bosons which mediate the weak interactions, the picture will be altered to that in Fig. 1.6. It will often be convenient to visualize weak interaction... 

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