Boson


In particle physics, a boson is a subatomic particle whose spin quantum number has an integer value. The class of Bosons is one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particle, the other being fermions, which have half odd-integer spin. Every observed subatomic particle is either a boson or a fermion. Paul Dirac coined the name boson to commemorate the contribution of Satyendra Nath Bose, an Indian physicist.
Some bosons are elementary particles occupying a special role in particle physics, distinct from the role of fermions. Certain elementary bosons act as force carriers, which give rise to forces between other particles, while one contributes to the phenomenon of mass. Other bosons, such as mesons, are composite particles made up of smaller constituents.
Outside the realm of particle physics, multiple identical composite bosons behave at high densities or low temperatures in a characteristic manner described by Bose–Einstein statistics: for example, a gas of helium-4 atoms becomes a superfluid at temperatures close to absolute zero. Similarly, superconductivity arises because some quasiparticles, such as Cooper pairs, behave in this characteristic manner.

Name

The name boson was coined by Paul Dirac to commemorate the contribution of Satyendra Nath Bose, an Indian physicist. When Bose was a reader at the University of Dhaka, Bengal, he and Albert Einstein developed the theory characterising such particles, now known as Bose–Einstein statistics and Bose–Einstein condensate.

Elementary bosons

All observed elementary particles are either bosons or fermions. Whereas the elementary particles that make up ordinary matter are fermions, elementary bosons occupy a special role in particle physics. They act either as force carriers which give rise to forces between other particles, or in one case give rise to the phenomenon of mass.
According to the Standard Model of Particle Physics there are five elementary bosons:
A second-order tensor boson called the graviton has been hypothesised as the force carrier for gravity, but so far all attempts to incorporate gravity into the Standard Model have failed.

Composite bosons

Composite particles can be bosons or fermions depending on their constituents. Since bosons have integer spin and fermions half odd-integer spin, any composite particle made up of an even number of fermions is a boson.
Composite bosons include:
As quantum particles, the behaviour of multiple indistinguishable bosons at high densities is described by Bose–Einstein statistics. One characteristic which becomes important in superfluidity and other applications of Bose–Einstein condensates is that there is no restriction on the number of bosons that may occupy the same quantum state. As a consequence, when for example a gas of helium-4 atoms is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero and the kinetic energy of the particles becomes negligible, it condenses into a low-energy state and becomes a superfluid.
Other examples in condensed matter systems include Cooper pairs in superconductors and excitons in semiconductors.

Quasiparticles

Certain quasiparticles are observed to behave as bosons and to follow Bose–Einstein statistics, including Cooper pairs, plasmons and phonons.

Explanatory notes