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In particle physics, lepton number (historically also called lepton charge) [1] is a conserved quantum number representing the difference between the number of leptons and the number of antileptons in an elementary particle reaction. [2]
In particle physics, a lepton is an elementary particle of half-integer spin (spin 1 / 2 ) that does not undergo strong interactions. [1] Two main classes of leptons exist: charged leptons (also known as the electron-like leptons or muons), including the electron, muon, and tauon, and neutral leptons, better known as neutrinos.
All leptons carry a lepton number L = 1. In addition, leptons carry weak isospin, T 3, which is − 1 / 2 for the three charged leptons (i.e. electron, muon and tau) and + 1 / 2 for the three associated neutrinos. Each doublet of a charged lepton and a neutrino consisting of opposite T 3 are said to constitute one generation of ...
The field equations of condensed matter physics are remarkably similar to those of high energy particle physics. As a result, much of the theory of particle physics applies to condensed matter physics as well; in particular, there are a selection of field excitations, called quasi-particles, that can be created and explored. These include:
There are also many approximate conservation laws, which apply to such quantities as mass, parity, [1] lepton number, baryon number, strangeness, hypercharge, etc. These quantities are conserved in certain classes of physics processes, but not in all.
The two U(1) factors can be combined into U(1) Y × U(1) l, where l is the lepton number. Gauging of the lepton number is ruled out by experiment, leaving only the possible gauge group SU(2) L × U(1) Y. A similar argument in the quark sector also gives the same result for the electroweak theory.
The tau (τ), also called the tau lepton, tau particle or tauon, is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with negative electric charge and a spin of 1 / 2 .Like the electron, the muon, and the three neutrinos, the tau is a lepton, and like all elementary particles with half-integer spin, the tau has a corresponding antiparticle of opposite charge but equal mass and spin.
Today it is widely accepted as one of the pillars of the Standard Model of particle physics, particularly given the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson by the CMS and ATLAS experiments. The model predicts that W ± and Z 0 bosons have the following masses: