Particles {boson}| {messenger particle}, such as photons, gluons, W and Z bosons, and gravitons, can carry force fields. Gravitons, photons, mesons, gluons, W particles, Z particles, and all exchange particles have integer spins and follow Bose-Einstein statistics. Unlike fermions, two bosons can have same quantum numbers. Rather than always having same units, boson quanta can vary in energy. Fermions and bosons account for all particles.
Spin
Some bosons {scalar boson}, such as Higgs particle and W particle, have zero spin. Some bosons {vector boson}, such as photon, graviton, and Z particle, have non-zero integer spin.
states
Bosons in same state tend to cluster together. Identical particles with same spin can interfere constructively if their waves are in phase. Identical particles with same spin can interfere destructively if their waves are in opposite phase. Therefore, if boson is present, another same-type-boson probability is greater.
fields
Interacting particles use field to store energy and momentum while they send signals between particles and cause interaction. Field preserves conservation laws. Fields carry signals as bosons, which carry energy and momentum to distant objects. Local interactions caused by boson exchanges mediate all action-at-a-distance.
statistics
Bosons and fermions with the same quantum numbers are exactly the same, so two different photons or electrons with the same quantum numbers are exactly the same. Because they have no relativistic effects on each other, bosons have symmetric wave functions: f(b+) = f(b-), where b+ has spin +1 and b- has spin -1. Different bosons can have the same state, because bosons do not attract or repel each other by relativistic effects. Their changing fields are symmetrical and cancel. Because they have relativistic effects on each other, fermions have anti-symmetric wave functions: f(e+) = -f(e-), where e+ has spin +1/2 and e- has spin -1/2. For two fermions, wavefunction is anti-symmetric for fermion exchange: f(e+,e-) = -f(e-,e+). For helium atoms (with two electrons in lowest orbital), with no time changes, the ground-state wavefunction is anti-symmetric, but the main (zero-order) wavefunction is symmetric, so the spin wavefunction is anti-symmetric. Electrons with same spin cannot be in same state (Pauli exclusion principle), because f(e+,e+) = -f(e+,e+) can be true only if f(e+,e+) = 0. Different fermions have different states, because fermions repel each other by relativistic effects. Changing electric fields induce magnetic fields that affect moving electric charges. Their changing fields are anti-symmetrical and do not cancel.
Physical Sciences>Physics>Matter>Particle>Subatomic>Boson
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Date Modified: 2022.0224