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of the weak force. Weak isospin plays the same role in the weak interaction with W ± as electric charge does in electromagnetism, and color charge in the strong interaction; a different number with a similar name, weak charge, discussed below, is used for interactions with the Z 0.
Steven Weinberg (/ ˈ w aɪ n b ɜːr ɡ /; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles.
In particle physics, the electroweak interaction or electroweak force is the unified description of two of the fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism (electromagnetic interaction) and the weak interaction. Although these two forces appear very different at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two different aspects of ...
bosons (see weak mixing angle), each vertex factor includes a factor , where is the third component of the weak isospin of the fermion (the "charge" for the weak force), is the electric charge of the fermion (in units of the elementary charge), and is the weak mixing angle.
The nuclear force is distinct from what historically was known as the weak nuclear force. The weak interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions, and plays a role in processes such as beta decay. The weak force plays no role in the interaction of nucleons, though it is responsible for the decay of neutrons to protons and vice versa.
Electromagnetism and the weak force are now understood to be two aspects of a unified electroweak interaction — this discovery was the first step toward the unified theory known as the Standard Model. In the theory of the electroweak interaction, the carriers of the weak force are the massive gauge bosons called the W and Z bosons.
The weak force has a very short range, the gravitational interaction is extremely weak due to the very small mass of the neutrino, and neutrinos do not participate in the electromagnetic interaction or the strong interaction. [4] Thus, neutrinos typically pass through normal matter unimpeded and undetected. [2] [3]
The weak force is due to the exchange of the heavy W and Z bosons. Since the weak force is mediated by two types of bosons, it can be divided into two types of interaction or "vertices" — charged current, involving the electrically charged W + and W − bosons, and neutral current, involving electrically neutral Z 0 bosons.