Weak interaction is one of the four
fundamental forcesIn particle physics, fundamental interactions are the ways that elementary particles interact with one another...
of nature, alongside the
strong nuclear forceIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
,
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, and
gravityGravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
. It is responsible for the
radioactive decayRadioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as
hydrogen fusionNuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
in stars. Weak interactions affect all known fermions; that is, particles whose
spinIn quantum mechanics and particle physics, spin is a fundamental characteristic property of elementary particles, composite particles , and atomic nuclei.It is worth noting that the intrinsic property of subatomic particles called spin and discussed in this article, is related in some small ways,...
(a property of all particles) is a half-integer.
In the
Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
of
particle physicsParticle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
the weak interaction is theorised as being caused by the exchange (i.e. emission or absorption) of
W and Z bosonsThe W and Z bosons are the elementary particles that mediate the weak interaction; their symbols are , and . The W bosons have a positive and negative electric charge of 1 elementary charge respectively and are each other's antiparticle. The Z boson is electrically neutral and its own...
; and because it is a consequence of the emission (or absorption) of bosons it is a
non-contact forceA non-contact force is a force applied to an object by another body that is not in direct contact with it. The most familiar example of a non-contact force is gravity. In contrast a contact force is a force applied to a body by another body that is in contact with it...
. The best known effect of this emission is
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
, a form of radioactivity. The Z and W bosons are much heavier than protons or neutrons and it is the heaviness that accounts for the very short range of the weak interaction. It is termed
weak because its typical field strength is several orders of magnitude less than that of both
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and the strong nuclear force. Most particles will decay by a weak interaction over time. It has one unique property – namely
quarkA quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly...
flavour changing – that does not occur in any other interaction. In addition, it also breaks
parity-symmetryIn physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
and CP-symmetry. Quark flavor changing allows for quarks to swap their 'flavor', one of six, for another.
The weak force was originally described, in the 1930s, by Fermi's theory of a
contact four-
fermionIn particle physics, a fermion is any particle which obeys the Fermi–Dirac statistics . Fermions contrast with bosons which obey Bose–Einstein statistics....
interaction: which is to say, a force with no range (i.e. entirely dependent on physical contact). However, it is now best described as a field, having range, albeit a very short range. In 1968, the electromagnetic force and the weak interaction were unified, when they were shown to be two aspects of a single force, now termed the
electro-weak forceIn particle physics, the electroweak interaction is the unified description of two of the four known fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism and the weak interaction. Although these two forces appear very different at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two different...
.
Weak interactions are most noticeable when particles undergo
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
and in the production of deuterium and then helium from hydrogen that powers the sun's thermonuclear process. Such decay also makes
radiocarbon datingRadiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
possible, as
carbon-14Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with a nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues , to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological...
decays through the weak interaction to nitrogen-14. It can also create
radioluminescenceRadioluminescence is the phenomenon by which luminescence is produced in a material by the bombardment of ionizing radiation such as beta particles.-Tritium:...
, commonly used in tritium illumination, and in the related field of
betavoltaicsBetavoltaics are generators of electrical current, in effect a form of battery, which use energy from a radioactive source emitting beta particles . A common source used is the hydrogen isotope, tritium...
.
Properties
The weak interaction is unique in a number of respects:
- It is the only interaction capable of changing the flavor of quarks (i.e. of changing one type of quark into another).
- It is the only interaction which violates P or parity-symmetry
In physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
. It is also the only one which violates CP symmetry.
- It is propagated by carrier particles that have significant masses (particles called gauge boson
In particle physics, gauge bosons are bosonic particles that act as carriers of the fundamental forces of nature. More specifically, elementary particles whose interactions are described by gauge theory exert forces on each other by the exchange of gauge bosons, usually as virtual particles.-...
s), an unusual feature which is explained in the Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
by the Higgs mechanismIn particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is the process in which gauge bosons in a gauge theory can acquire non-vanishing masses through absorption of Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising in spontaneous symmetry breaking....
.
Due to their large mass (approximately 90 GeV/c
2) these carrier particles, termed the W and Z bosons, are short-lived: they have a lifetime of under 1×10
−24 seconds. The weak interaction has a
coupling constantIn physics, a coupling constant, usually denoted g, is a number that determines the strength of an interaction. Usually the Lagrangian or the Hamiltonian of a system can be separated into a kinetic part and an interaction part...
(an indicator of interaction strength) of between 10
−7 and 10
−6, compared to the strong interaction's coupling constant of about 1; consequently the weak interaction is weak in terms of strength. The weak interaction has a very short range (around 10
−17–10
−16 m). At distances around 10
−18 meters, the weak interaction has a strength of a similar magnitude to the electromagnetic force; but at distances of around 3×10
−17 m the weak interaction is 10,000 times weaker than the electromagnetic.
The weak interaction affects all the fermions of the
Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
, as well as the hypothetical
Higgs bosonThe Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model...
;
neutrinoA neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
s interact through gravity and the weak interaction only, and neutrinos were the original reason for the name
weak force. The weak interaction does not produce bound states (nor does it involve
binding energyBinding energy is the mechanical energy required to disassemble a whole into separate parts. A bound system typically has a lower potential energy than its constituent parts; this is what keeps the system together—often this means that energy is released upon the creation of a bound state...
) – something that gravity does on an astronomical scale, that the electromagnetic force does at the atomic level, and that the strong nuclear force does inside nuclei.
Its most noticeable effect is due to its first unique feature: flavor changing. A
neutronThe neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
, for example, is heavier than a
protonThe proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
(its sister
nucleonIn physics, a nucleon is a collective name for two particles: the neutron and the proton. These are the two constituents of the atomic nucleus. Until the 1960s, the nucleons were thought to be elementary particles...
), but it cannot decay into a proton without changing the
flavorIn particle physics, flavour or flavor is a quantum number of elementary particles. In quantum chromodynamics, flavour is a global symmetry...
(type) of one of its two
down quarks to
up. Neither the
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
nor
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
permit flavour changing, so this must proceed by
weak decay; without weak decay, quark properties such as strangeness and charm (associated with the quarks of the same name) would also be conserved across all interactions. All mesons are unstable because of weak decay. In the process known as
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
, a
down quark in the
neutronThe neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
can change into an
up quark by emitting a
virtualIn physics, a virtual particle is a particle that exists for a limited time and space. The energy and momentum of a virtual particle are uncertain according to the uncertainty principle...
boson which is then converted into an
electronThe electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
and an electron antineutrino.
Due to the large mass of a
bosonIn particle physics, bosons are subatomic particles that obey Bose–Einstein statistics. Several bosons can occupy the same quantum state. The word boson derives from the name of Satyendra Nath Bose....
, weak decay is much more unlikely than strong or electromagnetic decay, and hence occurs less rapidly. For example, a neutral
pionIn particle physics, a pion is any of three subatomic particles: , , and . Pions are the lightest mesons and they play an important role in explaining the low-energy properties of the strong nuclear force....
(which decays electromagnetically) has a life of about 10
−16 seconds, while a weakly charged pion (which decays through the weak interaction) lives about 10
−8 seconds, a hundred million times longer. In contrast, a free neutron (which also decays through the weak interaction) lives about 15 minutes.
Weak isospin and weak hypercharge
Left-handed fermions in the Standard Model.
| Generation 1 |
Generation 2 |
Generation 3 |
| Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
| Electron The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
|
 |
 |
MuonThe muon |mu]] used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with a unitary negative electric charge and a spin of ½. Together with the electron, the tau, and the three neutrinos, it is classified as a lepton...
|
 |
 |
Tau |
 |
 |
| Electron neutrino The electron neutrino is a subatomic lepton elementary particle which has no net electric charge. Together with the electron it forms the first generation of leptons, hence its name electron neutrino...
|
 |
 |
Muon neutrino The muon neutrino is a subatomic lepton elementary particle which has the symbol and no net electric charge. Together with the muon it forms the second generation of leptons, hence its name muon neutrino. It was first hypothesized in the early 1940s by several people, and was discovered in 1962 by...
|
 |
 |
Tau neutrino |
 |
 |
| Up quark The up quark or u quark is the lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle, and a major constituent of matter. It, along with the down quark, forms the neutrons and protons of atomic nuclei...
|
 |
 |
Charm quark The charm quark or c quark is the third most massive of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Charm quarks are found in hadrons, which are subatomic particles made of quarks...
|
 |
 |
Top quark The top quark, also known as the t quark or truth quark, is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Like all quarks, the top quark is an elementary fermion with spin-, and experiences all four fundamental interactions: gravitation, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and...
|
 |
 |
| Down quark The down quark or d quark is the second-lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle, and a major constituent of matter. It, along with the up quark, forms the neutrons and protons of atomic nuclei...
|
 |
 |
Strange quark The strange quark or s quark is the third-lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Strange quarks are found in hadrons, which are subatomic particles. Example of hadrons containing strange quarks include kaons , strange D mesons , Sigma baryons , and other strange particles...
|
 |
 |
Bottom quark The bottom quark, also known as the beauty quark, is a third-generation quark with a charge of − e. Although all quarks are described in a similar way by the quantum chromodynamics, the bottom quark's large bare mass , combined with low values of the CKM matrix elements Vub and Vcb, gives it a...
|
 |
 |
All left-handed antiparticles have weak isospin of 0.
Right-handed antiparticles have the opposite weak isospin. |
Weak isospin (T
3) is a property (
quantum numberQuantum numbers describe values of conserved quantities in the dynamics of the quantum system. Perhaps the most peculiar aspect of quantum mechanics is the quantization of observable quantities. This is distinguished from classical mechanics where the values can range continuously...
) of all particles, which governs how particles interact in the weak interaction. Weak isospin is to the weak interaction what
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
is to the
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, and what
color chargeIn particle physics, color charge is a property of quarks and gluons that is related to the particles' strong interactions in the theory of quantum chromodynamics . Color charge has analogies with the notion of electric charge of particles, but because of the mathematical complications of QCD,...
is to
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
.
Elementary particleIn particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles. If an elementary particle truly has no substructure, then it is one of the basic building blocks of the universe from which...
s that are fermions have weak isospin values of ±. For example, up-type quarks (u, c, t) have T
3 = + and always transform into down-type quarks (d, s, b), which have T
3 = −, and vice-versa. On the other hand, a quark never decays weakly into a quark of the same T
3. As is the case with
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
, these two possible values are equal except for sign. Bosons have weak isospin of ±1, or 0.
Weak isospin is
conservedIn physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves....
: the sum of the weak isospin numbers of the particles exiting a reaction equals the sum of the weak isospin numbers of the particles entering that reaction. For example, a (left-handed) , with a weak isospin of 1 normally decays into a (+1/2) and a (as a right-handed antiparticle, +1/2).
Following the development of the electroweak theory, another property,
weak hyperchargeThe weak hypercharge in particle physics is a conserved quantum number relating the electrical charge and the third component of weak isospin, and is similar to the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula for the hypercharge of strong interactions...
, was developed. It is dependent on a particle's electrical charge and weak isospin, and is defined as:
where
YW is the weak hypercharge of a given type of particle,
Q is its electrical charge (in
elementary chargeThe elementary charge, usually denoted as e, is the electric charge carried by a single proton, or equivalently, the absolute value of the electric charge carried by a single electron. This elementary charge is a fundamental physical constant. To avoid confusion over its sign, e is sometimes called...
units) and
T3 is its weak isospin. Whereas some particles have a weak isospin of zero, all particles have non-zero weak hypercharge. Weak hypercharge is the generator of the U(1) component of the electroweak gauge group.
Violation of symmetry
The
laws of natureA physical law or scientific law is "a theoretical principle deduced from particular facts, applicable to a defined group or class of phenomena, and expressible by the statement that a particular phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions be present." Physical laws are typically conclusions...
were long thought to remain the same under mirror
reflectionReflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two differentmedia so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves...
, the reversal of all
spatial axesIn mathematics, Euclidean space is the Euclidean plane and three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, as well as the generalizations of these notions to higher dimensions...
. The results of an experiment viewed via a mirror were expected to be identical to the results of a mirror-reflected copy of the experimental apparatus. This so-called law of
parityIn physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
conservationIn physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves....
was known to be respected by classical
gravitationGravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
,
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and the
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
; it was assumed to be a universal law. However, in the mid-1950s
Chen Ning Yang and
Tsung-Dao LeeTsung-Dao Lee is a Chinese born-American physicist, well known for his work on parity violation, the Lee Model, particle physics, relativistic heavy ion physics, nontopological solitons and soliton stars....
suggested that the weak interaction might violate this law. Chien Shiung Wu and collaborators in 1957 discovered that the weak interaction violates parity, earning Yang and Lee the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Although the weak interaction used to be described by Fermi's theory, the discovery of parity violation and
renormalizationIn quantum field theory, the statistical mechanics of fields, and the theory of self-similar geometric structures, renormalization is any of a collection of techniques used to treat infinities arising in calculated quantities....
theory suggested a new approach was needed. In 1957,
Robert MarshakRobert Eugene Marshak was an American physicist dedicated to learning, research, and education.-History:...
and
George SudarshanEnnackal Chandy George Sudarshan , also E.C.G. Sudarshan, is a prominent Indian American physicist, author, and professor at The University of Texas at Austin.-Early life:...
and, somewhat later,
Richard FeynmanRichard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
and
Murray Gell-MannMurray Gell-Mann is an American physicist and linguist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles...
proposed a
V−A (vector minus axial vector or left-handed)
LagrangianThe Lagrangian, L, of a dynamical system is a function that summarizes the dynamics of the system. It is named after Joseph Louis Lagrange. The concept of a Lagrangian was originally introduced in a reformulation of classical mechanics by Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton known as...
for weak interactions. In this theory, the weak interaction acts only on left-handed particles (and right-handed antiparticles). Since the mirror reflection of a left-handed particle is right-handed, this explains the maximal violation of parity. Interestingly, the
V−A theory was developed before the discovery of the Z boson, so it did not include the right-handed fields that enter in the neutral current interaction.
However, this theory allowed a compound symmetry
CPIn particle physics, CP violation is a violation of the postulated CP-symmetry: the combination of C-symmetry and P-symmetry . CP-symmetry states that the laws of physics should be the same if a particle were interchanged with its antiparticle , and left and right were swapped...
to be conserved.
CP combines parity
P (switching left to right) with charge conjugation
C (switching particles with antiparticles). Physicists were again surprised when in 1964,
James CroninJames Watson Cronin is an American nuclear physicist.Cronin was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Cronin and co-researcher Val Logsdon Fitch were awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment that proved that certain subatomic...
and Val Fitch provided clear evidence in
kaonIn particle physics, a kaon is any one of a group of four mesons distinguished by the fact that they carry a quantum number called strangeness...
decays that CP symmetry could be broken too, winning them the 1980
Nobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. In 1973,
Makoto Kobayashiis a Japanese physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."- Biography :After completing his PhD at...
and
Toshihide Maskawais a Japanese theoretical physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."-Biography:A native of Aichi...
showed that CP violation in the weak interaction required more than two generations of particles, effectively predicting the existence of a then unknown third generation. This discovery earned them half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics. Unlike parity violation, CP violation occurs in only a small number of instances, but remains widely held as an answer to the difference between the amount of matter and antimatter in the universe; it thus forms one of
Andrei SakharovAndrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
's three conditions for
baryogenesisIn physical cosmology, baryogenesis is the generic term for hypothetical physical processes that produced an asymmetry between baryons and antibaryons in the very early universe, resulting in the substantial amounts of residual matter that make up the universe today.Baryogenesis theories employ...
.
Interaction types
There are two types of weak interaction (called
verticesFeynman diagrams are a pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, first developed by the Nobel Prize-winning American physicist Richard Feynman, and first introduced in 1948...
). The first type is called the "charged current interaction" because it is
mediatedIn particle physics, quantum field theories such as the Standard Model describe nature in terms of fields. Each field has a complementary description as the set of particles of a particular type...
by particles that carry an
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
(the
{{good article}}
{{Standard model of particle physics}}
Weak interaction (often called the
weak force or sometimes the
weak nuclear force), is one of the four
fundamental forcesIn particle physics, fundamental interactions are the ways that elementary particles interact with one another...
of nature, alongside the
strong nuclear forceIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
,
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, and
gravityGravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
. It is responsible for the
radioactive decayRadioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as
hydrogen fusionNuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
in stars. Weak interactions affect all known fermions; that is, particles whose
spinIn quantum mechanics and particle physics, spin is a fundamental characteristic property of elementary particles, composite particles , and atomic nuclei.It is worth noting that the intrinsic property of subatomic particles called spin and discussed in this article, is related in some small ways,...
(a property of all particles) is a half-integer.
In the
Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
of
particle physicsParticle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
the weak interaction is theorised as being caused by the exchange (i.e. emission or absorption) of
W and Z bosonsThe W and Z bosons are the elementary particles that mediate the weak interaction; their symbols are , and . The W bosons have a positive and negative electric charge of 1 elementary charge respectively and are each other's antiparticle. The Z boson is electrically neutral and its own...
; and because it is a consequence of the emission (or absorption) of bosons it is a
non-contact forceA non-contact force is a force applied to an object by another body that is not in direct contact with it. The most familiar example of a non-contact force is gravity. In contrast a contact force is a force applied to a body by another body that is in contact with it...
. The best known effect of this emission is
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
, a form of radioactivity. The Z and W bosons are much heavier than protons or neutrons and it is the heaviness that accounts for the very short range of the weak interaction. It is termed
weak because its typical field strength is several orders of magnitude less than that of both
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and the strong nuclear force. Most particles will decay by a weak interaction over time. It has one unique property – namely
quarkA quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly...
flavour changing – that does not occur in any other interaction. In addition, it also breaks
parity-symmetryIn physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
and CP-symmetry. Quark flavor changing allows for quarks to swap their 'flavor', one of six, for another.
The weak force was originally described, in the 1930s, by Fermi's theory of a
contact four-
fermionIn particle physics, a fermion is any particle which obeys the Fermi–Dirac statistics . Fermions contrast with bosons which obey Bose–Einstein statistics....
interaction: which is to say, a force with no range (i.e. entirely dependent on physical contact). However, it is now best described as a field, having range, albeit a very short range. In 1968, the electromagnetic force and the weak interaction were unified, when they were shown to be two aspects of a single force, now termed the
electro-weak forceIn particle physics, the electroweak interaction is the unified description of two of the four known fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism and the weak interaction. Although these two forces appear very different at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two different...
.
Weak interactions are most noticeable when particles undergo
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
and in the production of deuterium and then helium from hydrogen that powers the sun's thermonuclear process. Such decay also makes
radiocarbon datingRadiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
possible, as
carbon-14Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with a nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues , to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological...
decays through the weak interaction to nitrogen-14. It can also create
radioluminescenceRadioluminescence is the phenomenon by which luminescence is produced in a material by the bombardment of ionizing radiation such as beta particles.-Tritium:...
, commonly used in tritium illumination, and in the related field of
betavoltaicsBetavoltaics are generators of electrical current, in effect a form of battery, which use energy from a radioactive source emitting beta particles . A common source used is the hydrogen isotope, tritium...
.
Properties
The weak interaction is unique in a number of respects:
- It is the only interaction capable of changing the flavor of quarks (i.e. of changing one type of quark into another).
- It is the only interaction which violates P or parity-symmetry
In physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
. It is also the only one which violates CP symmetry.
- It is propagated by carrier particles that have significant masses (particles called gauge boson
In particle physics, gauge bosons are bosonic particles that act as carriers of the fundamental forces of nature. More specifically, elementary particles whose interactions are described by gauge theory exert forces on each other by the exchange of gauge bosons, usually as virtual particles.-...
s), an unusual feature which is explained in the Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
by the Higgs mechanismIn particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is the process in which gauge bosons in a gauge theory can acquire non-vanishing masses through absorption of Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising in spontaneous symmetry breaking....
.
Due to their large mass (approximately 90 GeV/c
2) these carrier particles, termed the W and Z bosons, are short-lived: they have a lifetime of under 1×10
−24 seconds. The weak interaction has a
coupling constantIn physics, a coupling constant, usually denoted g, is a number that determines the strength of an interaction. Usually the Lagrangian or the Hamiltonian of a system can be separated into a kinetic part and an interaction part...
(an indicator of interaction strength) of between 10
−7 and 10
−6, compared to the strong interaction's coupling constant of about 1; consequently the weak interaction is weak in terms of strength. The weak interaction has a very short range (around 10
−17–10
−16 m). At distances around 10
−18 meters, the weak interaction has a strength of a similar magnitude to the electromagnetic force; but at distances of around 3×10
−17 m the weak interaction is 10,000 times weaker than the electromagnetic.
The weak interaction affects all the fermions of the
Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
, as well as the hypothetical
Higgs bosonThe Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model...
;
neutrinoA neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
s interact through gravity and the weak interaction only, and neutrinos were the original reason for the name
weak force. The weak interaction does not produce bound states (nor does it involve
binding energyBinding energy is the mechanical energy required to disassemble a whole into separate parts. A bound system typically has a lower potential energy than its constituent parts; this is what keeps the system together—often this means that energy is released upon the creation of a bound state...
) – something that gravity does on an astronomical scale, that the electromagnetic force does at the atomic level, and that the strong nuclear force does inside nuclei.
Its most noticeable effect is due to its first unique feature: flavor changing. A
neutronThe neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
, for example, is heavier than a
protonThe proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
(its sister
nucleonIn physics, a nucleon is a collective name for two particles: the neutron and the proton. These are the two constituents of the atomic nucleus. Until the 1960s, the nucleons were thought to be elementary particles...
), but it cannot decay into a proton without changing the
flavorIn particle physics, flavour or flavor is a quantum number of elementary particles. In quantum chromodynamics, flavour is a global symmetry...
(type) of one of its two
down quarks to
up. Neither the
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
nor
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
permit flavour changing, so this must proceed by
weak decay; without weak decay, quark properties such as strangeness and charm (associated with the quarks of the same name) would also be conserved across all interactions. All mesons are unstable because of weak decay. In the process known as
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
, a
down quark in the
neutronThe neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
can change into an
up quark by emitting a
virtualIn physics, a virtual particle is a particle that exists for a limited time and space. The energy and momentum of a virtual particle are uncertain according to the uncertainty principle...
{{SubatomicParticle|W boson-}} boson which is then converted into an
electronThe electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
and an electron antineutrino.
Due to the large mass of a
bosonIn particle physics, bosons are subatomic particles that obey Bose–Einstein statistics. Several bosons can occupy the same quantum state. The word boson derives from the name of Satyendra Nath Bose....
, weak decay is much more unlikely than strong or electromagnetic decay, and hence occurs less rapidly. For example, a neutral
pionIn particle physics, a pion is any of three subatomic particles: , , and . Pions are the lightest mesons and they play an important role in explaining the low-energy properties of the strong nuclear force....
(which decays electromagnetically) has a life of about 10
−16 seconds, while a weakly charged pion (which decays through the weak interaction) lives about 10
−8 seconds, a hundred million times longer. In contrast, a free neutron (which also decays through the weak interaction) lives about 15 minutes.
Weak isospin and weak hypercharge
{{main|Weak isospin}}
Left-handed fermions in the Standard Model.
| Generation 1 |
Generation 2 |
Generation 3 |
| Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
| Electron The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
|
|
|
MuonThe muon |mu]] used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with a unitary negative electric charge and a spin of ½. Together with the electron, the tau, and the three neutrinos, it is classified as a lepton...
|
|
|
Tau |
|
|
| Electron neutrino The electron neutrino is a subatomic lepton elementary particle which has no net electric charge. Together with the electron it forms the first generation of leptons, hence its name electron neutrino...
|
|
|
Muon neutrino The muon neutrino is a subatomic lepton elementary particle which has the symbol and no net electric charge. Together with the muon it forms the second generation of leptons, hence its name muon neutrino. It was first hypothesized in the early 1940s by several people, and was discovered in 1962 by...
|
|
|
Tau neutrino |
|
|
| Up quark The up quark or u quark is the lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle, and a major constituent of matter. It, along with the down quark, forms the neutrons and protons of atomic nuclei...
|
|
|
Charm quark The charm quark or c quark is the third most massive of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Charm quarks are found in hadrons, which are subatomic particles made of quarks...
|
|
|
Top quark The top quark, also known as the t quark or truth quark, is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Like all quarks, the top quark is an elementary fermion with spin-, and experiences all four fundamental interactions: gravitation, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and...
|
|
|
| Down quark The down quark or d quark is the second-lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle, and a major constituent of matter. It, along with the up quark, forms the neutrons and protons of atomic nuclei...
|
|
|
Strange quark The strange quark or s quark is the third-lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Strange quarks are found in hadrons, which are subatomic particles. Example of hadrons containing strange quarks include kaons , strange D mesons , Sigma baryons , and other strange particles...
|
|
|
Bottom quark The bottom quark, also known as the beauty quark, is a third-generation quark with a charge of − e. Although all quarks are described in a similar way by the quantum chromodynamics, the bottom quark's large bare mass , combined with low values of the CKM matrix elements Vub and Vcb, gives it a...
|
|
|
All left-handed antiparticles have weak isospin of 0.
Right-handed antiparticles have the opposite weak isospin. |
Weak isospin (T
3) is a property (
quantum numberQuantum numbers describe values of conserved quantities in the dynamics of the quantum system. Perhaps the most peculiar aspect of quantum mechanics is the quantization of observable quantities. This is distinguished from classical mechanics where the values can range continuously...
) of all particles, which governs how particles interact in the weak interaction.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} Weak isospin is to the weak interaction what
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
is to the
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, and what
color chargeIn particle physics, color charge is a property of quarks and gluons that is related to the particles' strong interactions in the theory of quantum chromodynamics . Color charge has analogies with the notion of electric charge of particles, but because of the mathematical complications of QCD,...
is to
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
.
Elementary particleIn particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles. If an elementary particle truly has no substructure, then it is one of the basic building blocks of the universe from which...
s that are fermions have weak isospin values of ±{{frac|2}}. For example, up-type quarks (u, c, t) have T
3 = +{{frac|2}} and always transform into down-type quarks (d, s, b), which have T
3 = −{{frac|2}}, and vice-versa. On the other hand, a quark never decays weakly into a quark of the same T
3. As is the case with
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
, these two possible values are equal except for sign. Bosons have weak isospin of ±1, or 0.
Weak isospin is
conservedIn physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves....
: the sum of the weak isospin numbers of the particles exiting a reaction equals the sum of the weak isospin numbers of the particles entering that reaction. For example, a (left-handed) {{SubatomicParticle|Pion+}}, with a weak isospin of 1 normally decays into a {{SubatomicParticle|Muon neutrino}} (+1/2) and a {{SubatomicParticle|Muon+}} (as a right-handed antiparticle, +1/2).
Following the development of the electroweak theory, another property,
weak hyperchargeThe weak hypercharge in particle physics is a conserved quantum number relating the electrical charge and the third component of weak isospin, and is similar to the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula for the hypercharge of strong interactions...
, was developed. It is dependent on a particle's electrical charge and weak isospin, and is defined as:
where
YW is the weak hypercharge of a given type of particle,
Q is its electrical charge (in
elementary chargeThe elementary charge, usually denoted as e, is the electric charge carried by a single proton, or equivalently, the absolute value of the electric charge carried by a single electron. This elementary charge is a fundamental physical constant. To avoid confusion over its sign, e is sometimes called...
units) and
T3 is its weak isospin. Whereas some particles have a weak isospin of zero, all particles have non-zero weak hypercharge.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} Weak hypercharge is the generator of the U(1) component of the electroweak gauge group.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}
Violation of symmetry
The
laws of natureA physical law or scientific law is "a theoretical principle deduced from particular facts, applicable to a defined group or class of phenomena, and expressible by the statement that a particular phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions be present." Physical laws are typically conclusions...
were long thought to remain the same under mirror
reflectionReflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two differentmedia so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves...
, the reversal of all
spatial axesIn mathematics, Euclidean space is the Euclidean plane and three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, as well as the generalizations of these notions to higher dimensions...
. The results of an experiment viewed via a mirror were expected to be identical to the results of a mirror-reflected copy of the experimental apparatus. This so-called law of
parityIn physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
conservationIn physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves....
was known to be respected by classical
gravitationGravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
,
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and the
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
; it was assumed to be a universal law. However, in the mid-1950s
Chen Ning Yang and
Tsung-Dao LeeTsung-Dao Lee is a Chinese born-American physicist, well known for his work on parity violation, the Lee Model, particle physics, relativistic heavy ion physics, nontopological solitons and soliton stars....
suggested that the weak interaction might violate this law. Chien Shiung Wu and collaborators in 1957 discovered that the weak interaction violates parity, earning Yang and Lee the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Although the weak interaction used to be described by Fermi's theory, the discovery of parity violation and
renormalizationIn quantum field theory, the statistical mechanics of fields, and the theory of self-similar geometric structures, renormalization is any of a collection of techniques used to treat infinities arising in calculated quantities....
theory suggested a new approach was needed. In 1957,
Robert MarshakRobert Eugene Marshak was an American physicist dedicated to learning, research, and education.-History:...
and
George SudarshanEnnackal Chandy George Sudarshan , also E.C.G. Sudarshan, is a prominent Indian American physicist, author, and professor at The University of Texas at Austin.-Early life:...
and, somewhat later,
Richard FeynmanRichard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
and
Murray Gell-MannMurray Gell-Mann is an American physicist and linguist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles...
proposed a
V−A (vector minus axial vector or left-handed)
LagrangianThe Lagrangian, L, of a dynamical system is a function that summarizes the dynamics of the system. It is named after Joseph Louis Lagrange. The concept of a Lagrangian was originally introduced in a reformulation of classical mechanics by Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton known as...
for weak interactions. In this theory, the weak interaction acts only on left-handed particles (and right-handed antiparticles). Since the mirror reflection of a left-handed particle is right-handed, this explains the maximal violation of parity. Interestingly, the
V−A theory was developed before the discovery of the Z boson, so it did not include the right-handed fields that enter in the neutral current interaction.
However, this theory allowed a compound symmetry
CPIn particle physics, CP violation is a violation of the postulated CP-symmetry: the combination of C-symmetry and P-symmetry . CP-symmetry states that the laws of physics should be the same if a particle were interchanged with its antiparticle , and left and right were swapped...
to be conserved.
CP combines parity
P (switching left to right) with charge conjugation
C (switching particles with antiparticles). Physicists were again surprised when in 1964,
James CroninJames Watson Cronin is an American nuclear physicist.Cronin was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Cronin and co-researcher Val Logsdon Fitch were awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment that proved that certain subatomic...
and Val Fitch provided clear evidence in
kaonIn particle physics, a kaon is any one of a group of four mesons distinguished by the fact that they carry a quantum number called strangeness...
decays that CP symmetry could be broken too, winning them the 1980
Nobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. In 1973,
Makoto Kobayashiis a Japanese physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."- Biography :After completing his PhD at...
and
Toshihide Maskawais a Japanese theoretical physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."-Biography:A native of Aichi...
showed that CP violation in the weak interaction required more than two generations of particles, effectively predicting the existence of a then unknown third generation. This discovery earned them half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics. Unlike parity violation, CP violation occurs in only a small number of instances, but remains widely held as an answer to the difference between the amount of matter and antimatter in the universe; it thus forms one of
Andrei SakharovAndrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
's three conditions for
baryogenesisIn physical cosmology, baryogenesis is the generic term for hypothetical physical processes that produced an asymmetry between baryons and antibaryons in the very early universe, resulting in the substantial amounts of residual matter that make up the universe today.Baryogenesis theories employ...
.
Interaction types
There are two types of weak interaction (called
verticesFeynman diagrams are a pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, first developed by the Nobel Prize-winning American physicist Richard Feynman, and first introduced in 1948...
). The first type is called the "charged current interaction" because it is
mediatedIn particle physics, quantum field theories such as the Standard Model describe nature in terms of fields. Each field has a complementary description as the set of particles of a particular type...
by particles that carry an
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
(the
{{good article}}
{{Standard model of particle physics}}
Weak interaction (often called the
weak force or sometimes the
weak nuclear force), is one of the four
fundamental forcesIn particle physics, fundamental interactions are the ways that elementary particles interact with one another...
of nature, alongside the
strong nuclear forceIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
,
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, and
gravityGravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
. It is responsible for the
radioactive decayRadioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as
hydrogen fusionNuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
in stars. Weak interactions affect all known fermions; that is, particles whose
spinIn quantum mechanics and particle physics, spin is a fundamental characteristic property of elementary particles, composite particles , and atomic nuclei.It is worth noting that the intrinsic property of subatomic particles called spin and discussed in this article, is related in some small ways,...
(a property of all particles) is a half-integer.
In the
Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
of
particle physicsParticle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
the weak interaction is theorised as being caused by the exchange (i.e. emission or absorption) of
W and Z bosonsThe W and Z bosons are the elementary particles that mediate the weak interaction; their symbols are , and . The W bosons have a positive and negative electric charge of 1 elementary charge respectively and are each other's antiparticle. The Z boson is electrically neutral and its own...
; and because it is a consequence of the emission (or absorption) of bosons it is a
non-contact forceA non-contact force is a force applied to an object by another body that is not in direct contact with it. The most familiar example of a non-contact force is gravity. In contrast a contact force is a force applied to a body by another body that is in contact with it...
. The best known effect of this emission is
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
, a form of radioactivity. The Z and W bosons are much heavier than protons or neutrons and it is the heaviness that accounts for the very short range of the weak interaction. It is termed
weak because its typical field strength is several orders of magnitude less than that of both
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and the strong nuclear force. Most particles will decay by a weak interaction over time. It has one unique property – namely
quarkA quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly...
flavour changing – that does not occur in any other interaction. In addition, it also breaks
parity-symmetryIn physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
and CP-symmetry. Quark flavor changing allows for quarks to swap their 'flavor', one of six, for another.
The weak force was originally described, in the 1930s, by Fermi's theory of a
contact four-
fermionIn particle physics, a fermion is any particle which obeys the Fermi–Dirac statistics . Fermions contrast with bosons which obey Bose–Einstein statistics....
interaction: which is to say, a force with no range (i.e. entirely dependent on physical contact). However, it is now best described as a field, having range, albeit a very short range. In 1968, the electromagnetic force and the weak interaction were unified, when they were shown to be two aspects of a single force, now termed the
electro-weak forceIn particle physics, the electroweak interaction is the unified description of two of the four known fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism and the weak interaction. Although these two forces appear very different at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two different...
.
Weak interactions are most noticeable when particles undergo
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
and in the production of deuterium and then helium from hydrogen that powers the sun's thermonuclear process. Such decay also makes
radiocarbon datingRadiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
possible, as
carbon-14Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with a nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues , to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological...
decays through the weak interaction to nitrogen-14. It can also create
radioluminescenceRadioluminescence is the phenomenon by which luminescence is produced in a material by the bombardment of ionizing radiation such as beta particles.-Tritium:...
, commonly used in tritium illumination, and in the related field of
betavoltaicsBetavoltaics are generators of electrical current, in effect a form of battery, which use energy from a radioactive source emitting beta particles . A common source used is the hydrogen isotope, tritium...
.
Properties
The weak interaction is unique in a number of respects:
- It is the only interaction capable of changing the flavor of quarks (i.e. of changing one type of quark into another).
- It is the only interaction which violates P or parity-symmetry
In physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
. It is also the only one which violates CP symmetry.
- It is propagated by carrier particles that have significant masses (particles called gauge boson
In particle physics, gauge bosons are bosonic particles that act as carriers of the fundamental forces of nature. More specifically, elementary particles whose interactions are described by gauge theory exert forces on each other by the exchange of gauge bosons, usually as virtual particles.-...
s), an unusual feature which is explained in the Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
by the Higgs mechanismIn particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is the process in which gauge bosons in a gauge theory can acquire non-vanishing masses through absorption of Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising in spontaneous symmetry breaking....
.
Due to their large mass (approximately 90 GeV/c
2) these carrier particles, termed the W and Z bosons, are short-lived: they have a lifetime of under 1×10
−24 seconds. The weak interaction has a
coupling constantIn physics, a coupling constant, usually denoted g, is a number that determines the strength of an interaction. Usually the Lagrangian or the Hamiltonian of a system can be separated into a kinetic part and an interaction part...
(an indicator of interaction strength) of between 10
−7 and 10
−6, compared to the strong interaction's coupling constant of about 1; consequently the weak interaction is weak in terms of strength. The weak interaction has a very short range (around 10
−17–10
−16 m). At distances around 10
−18 meters, the weak interaction has a strength of a similar magnitude to the electromagnetic force; but at distances of around 3×10
−17 m the weak interaction is 10,000 times weaker than the electromagnetic.
The weak interaction affects all the fermions of the
Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
, as well as the hypothetical
Higgs bosonThe Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model...
;
neutrinoA neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
s interact through gravity and the weak interaction only, and neutrinos were the original reason for the name
weak force. The weak interaction does not produce bound states (nor does it involve
binding energyBinding energy is the mechanical energy required to disassemble a whole into separate parts. A bound system typically has a lower potential energy than its constituent parts; this is what keeps the system together—often this means that energy is released upon the creation of a bound state...
) – something that gravity does on an astronomical scale, that the electromagnetic force does at the atomic level, and that the strong nuclear force does inside nuclei.
Its most noticeable effect is due to its first unique feature: flavor changing. A
neutronThe neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
, for example, is heavier than a
protonThe proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
(its sister
nucleonIn physics, a nucleon is a collective name for two particles: the neutron and the proton. These are the two constituents of the atomic nucleus. Until the 1960s, the nucleons were thought to be elementary particles...
), but it cannot decay into a proton without changing the
flavorIn particle physics, flavour or flavor is a quantum number of elementary particles. In quantum chromodynamics, flavour is a global symmetry...
(type) of one of its two
down quarks to
up. Neither the
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
nor
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
permit flavour changing, so this must proceed by
weak decay; without weak decay, quark properties such as strangeness and charm (associated with the quarks of the same name) would also be conserved across all interactions. All mesons are unstable because of weak decay. In the process known as
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
, a
down quark in the
neutronThe neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
can change into an
up quark by emitting a
virtualIn physics, a virtual particle is a particle that exists for a limited time and space. The energy and momentum of a virtual particle are uncertain according to the uncertainty principle...
{{SubatomicParticle|W boson-}} boson which is then converted into an
electronThe electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
and an electron antineutrino.
Due to the large mass of a
bosonIn particle physics, bosons are subatomic particles that obey Bose–Einstein statistics. Several bosons can occupy the same quantum state. The word boson derives from the name of Satyendra Nath Bose....
, weak decay is much more unlikely than strong or electromagnetic decay, and hence occurs less rapidly. For example, a neutral
pionIn particle physics, a pion is any of three subatomic particles: , , and . Pions are the lightest mesons and they play an important role in explaining the low-energy properties of the strong nuclear force....
(which decays electromagnetically) has a life of about 10
−16 seconds, while a weakly charged pion (which decays through the weak interaction) lives about 10
−8 seconds, a hundred million times longer. In contrast, a free neutron (which also decays through the weak interaction) lives about 15 minutes.
Weak isospin and weak hypercharge
{{main|Weak isospin}}
Left-handed fermions in the Standard Model.
| Generation 1 |
Generation 2 |
Generation 3 |
| Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
Fermion |
Symbol |
Weak
isospinIn particle physics, weak isospin is a quantum number relating to the weak interaction, and parallels the idea of isospin under the strong interaction. Weak isospin is usually given the symbol T or I with the third component written as Tz, T3, Iz or I3...
|
| Electron The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
|
|
|
MuonThe muon |mu]] used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with a unitary negative electric charge and a spin of ½. Together with the electron, the tau, and the three neutrinos, it is classified as a lepton...
|
|
|
Tau |
|
|
| Electron neutrino The electron neutrino is a subatomic lepton elementary particle which has no net electric charge. Together with the electron it forms the first generation of leptons, hence its name electron neutrino...
|
|
|
Muon neutrino The muon neutrino is a subatomic lepton elementary particle which has the symbol and no net electric charge. Together with the muon it forms the second generation of leptons, hence its name muon neutrino. It was first hypothesized in the early 1940s by several people, and was discovered in 1962 by...
|
|
|
Tau neutrino |
|
|
| Up quark The up quark or u quark is the lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle, and a major constituent of matter. It, along with the down quark, forms the neutrons and protons of atomic nuclei...
|
|
|
Charm quark The charm quark or c quark is the third most massive of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Charm quarks are found in hadrons, which are subatomic particles made of quarks...
|
|
|
Top quark The top quark, also known as the t quark or truth quark, is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Like all quarks, the top quark is an elementary fermion with spin-, and experiences all four fundamental interactions: gravitation, electromagnetism, weak interactions, and...
|
|
|
| Down quark The down quark or d quark is the second-lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle, and a major constituent of matter. It, along with the up quark, forms the neutrons and protons of atomic nuclei...
|
|
|
Strange quark The strange quark or s quark is the third-lightest of all quarks, a type of elementary particle. Strange quarks are found in hadrons, which are subatomic particles. Example of hadrons containing strange quarks include kaons , strange D mesons , Sigma baryons , and other strange particles...
|
|
|
Bottom quark The bottom quark, also known as the beauty quark, is a third-generation quark with a charge of − e. Although all quarks are described in a similar way by the quantum chromodynamics, the bottom quark's large bare mass , combined with low values of the CKM matrix elements Vub and Vcb, gives it a...
|
|
|
All left-handed antiparticles have weak isospin of 0.
Right-handed antiparticles have the opposite weak isospin. |
Weak isospin (T
3) is a property (
quantum numberQuantum numbers describe values of conserved quantities in the dynamics of the quantum system. Perhaps the most peculiar aspect of quantum mechanics is the quantization of observable quantities. This is distinguished from classical mechanics where the values can range continuously...
) of all particles, which governs how particles interact in the weak interaction.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} Weak isospin is to the weak interaction what
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
is to the
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, and what
color chargeIn particle physics, color charge is a property of quarks and gluons that is related to the particles' strong interactions in the theory of quantum chromodynamics . Color charge has analogies with the notion of electric charge of particles, but because of the mathematical complications of QCD,...
is to
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
.
Elementary particleIn particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles. If an elementary particle truly has no substructure, then it is one of the basic building blocks of the universe from which...
s that are fermions have weak isospin values of ±{{frac|2}}. For example, up-type quarks (u, c, t) have T
3 = +{{frac|2}} and always transform into down-type quarks (d, s, b), which have T
3 = −{{frac|2}}, and vice-versa. On the other hand, a quark never decays weakly into a quark of the same T
3. As is the case with
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
, these two possible values are equal except for sign. Bosons have weak isospin of ±1, or 0.
Weak isospin is
conservedIn physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves....
: the sum of the weak isospin numbers of the particles exiting a reaction equals the sum of the weak isospin numbers of the particles entering that reaction. For example, a (left-handed) {{SubatomicParticle|Pion+}}, with a weak isospin of 1 normally decays into a {{SubatomicParticle|Muon neutrino}} (+1/2) and a {{SubatomicParticle|Muon+}} (as a right-handed antiparticle, +1/2).
Following the development of the electroweak theory, another property,
weak hyperchargeThe weak hypercharge in particle physics is a conserved quantum number relating the electrical charge and the third component of weak isospin, and is similar to the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula for the hypercharge of strong interactions...
, was developed. It is dependent on a particle's electrical charge and weak isospin, and is defined as:
where
YW is the weak hypercharge of a given type of particle,
Q is its electrical charge (in
elementary chargeThe elementary charge, usually denoted as e, is the electric charge carried by a single proton, or equivalently, the absolute value of the electric charge carried by a single electron. This elementary charge is a fundamental physical constant. To avoid confusion over its sign, e is sometimes called...
units) and
T3 is its weak isospin. Whereas some particles have a weak isospin of zero, all particles have non-zero weak hypercharge.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} Weak hypercharge is the generator of the U(1) component of the electroweak gauge group.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}
Violation of symmetry
The
laws of natureA physical law or scientific law is "a theoretical principle deduced from particular facts, applicable to a defined group or class of phenomena, and expressible by the statement that a particular phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions be present." Physical laws are typically conclusions...
were long thought to remain the same under mirror
reflectionReflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two differentmedia so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves...
, the reversal of all
spatial axesIn mathematics, Euclidean space is the Euclidean plane and three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, as well as the generalizations of these notions to higher dimensions...
. The results of an experiment viewed via a mirror were expected to be identical to the results of a mirror-reflected copy of the experimental apparatus. This so-called law of
parityIn physics, a parity transformation is the flip in the sign of one spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it is also commonly described by the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates:...
conservationIn physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated physical system does not change as the system evolves....
was known to be respected by classical
gravitationGravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
,
electromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and the
strong interactionIn particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
; it was assumed to be a universal law. However, in the mid-1950s
Chen Ning Yang and
Tsung-Dao LeeTsung-Dao Lee is a Chinese born-American physicist, well known for his work on parity violation, the Lee Model, particle physics, relativistic heavy ion physics, nontopological solitons and soliton stars....
suggested that the weak interaction might violate this law. Chien Shiung Wu and collaborators in 1957 discovered that the weak interaction violates parity, earning Yang and Lee the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Although the weak interaction used to be described by Fermi's theory, the discovery of parity violation and
renormalizationIn quantum field theory, the statistical mechanics of fields, and the theory of self-similar geometric structures, renormalization is any of a collection of techniques used to treat infinities arising in calculated quantities....
theory suggested a new approach was needed. In 1957,
Robert MarshakRobert Eugene Marshak was an American physicist dedicated to learning, research, and education.-History:...
and
George SudarshanEnnackal Chandy George Sudarshan , also E.C.G. Sudarshan, is a prominent Indian American physicist, author, and professor at The University of Texas at Austin.-Early life:...
and, somewhat later,
Richard FeynmanRichard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
and
Murray Gell-MannMurray Gell-Mann is an American physicist and linguist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles...
proposed a
V−A (vector minus axial vector or left-handed)
LagrangianThe Lagrangian, L, of a dynamical system is a function that summarizes the dynamics of the system. It is named after Joseph Louis Lagrange. The concept of a Lagrangian was originally introduced in a reformulation of classical mechanics by Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton known as...
for weak interactions. In this theory, the weak interaction acts only on left-handed particles (and right-handed antiparticles). Since the mirror reflection of a left-handed particle is right-handed, this explains the maximal violation of parity. Interestingly, the
V−A theory was developed before the discovery of the Z boson, so it did not include the right-handed fields that enter in the neutral current interaction.
However, this theory allowed a compound symmetry
CPIn particle physics, CP violation is a violation of the postulated CP-symmetry: the combination of C-symmetry and P-symmetry . CP-symmetry states that the laws of physics should be the same if a particle were interchanged with its antiparticle , and left and right were swapped...
to be conserved.
CP combines parity
P (switching left to right) with charge conjugation
C (switching particles with antiparticles). Physicists were again surprised when in 1964,
James CroninJames Watson Cronin is an American nuclear physicist.Cronin was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Cronin and co-researcher Val Logsdon Fitch were awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment that proved that certain subatomic...
and Val Fitch provided clear evidence in
kaonIn particle physics, a kaon is any one of a group of four mesons distinguished by the fact that they carry a quantum number called strangeness...
decays that CP symmetry could be broken too, winning them the 1980
Nobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. In 1973,
Makoto Kobayashiis a Japanese physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."- Biography :After completing his PhD at...
and
Toshihide Maskawais a Japanese theoretical physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one quarter of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."-Biography:A native of Aichi...
showed that CP violation in the weak interaction required more than two generations of particles, effectively predicting the existence of a then unknown third generation. This discovery earned them half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics. Unlike parity violation, CP violation occurs in only a small number of instances, but remains widely held as an answer to the difference between the amount of matter and antimatter in the universe; it thus forms one of
Andrei SakharovAndrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
's three conditions for
baryogenesisIn physical cosmology, baryogenesis is the generic term for hypothetical physical processes that produced an asymmetry between baryons and antibaryons in the very early universe, resulting in the substantial amounts of residual matter that make up the universe today.Baryogenesis theories employ...
.
Interaction types
There are two types of weak interaction (called
verticesFeynman diagrams are a pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, first developed by the Nobel Prize-winning American physicist Richard Feynman, and first introduced in 1948...
). The first type is called the "charged current interaction" because it is
mediatedIn particle physics, quantum field theories such as the Standard Model describe nature in terms of fields. Each field has a complementary description as the set of particles of a particular type...
by particles that carry an
electric chargeElectric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two...
(the {{SubatomicParticle), and is responsible for the
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
phenomenon. The second type is called the "neutral current interaction" because it is mediated by a neutral particle, the Z boson.
Charged current interaction
In one type of charged current interaction, a charged
leptonA lepton is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. The best known of all leptons is the electron which governs nearly all of chemistry as it is found in atoms and is directly tied to all chemical properties. Two main classes of leptons exist: charged leptons , and neutral...
(such as an
electronThe electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
or a
muonThe muon |mu]] used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with a unitary negative electric charge and a spin of ½. Together with the electron, the tau, and the three neutrinos, it is classified as a lepton...
, having a charge of -1) can absorb a {{SubatomicParticle (a particle with a charge of +1) and be thereby converted into a corresponding
neutrinoA neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
(with a charge of 0), where the type ("family") of neutrino (electron, muon or tau) is the same as the type of lepton in the interaction, for example:
Similarly, a down-type
quarkA quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly...
(
d with a charge of −{{frac|3}}) can be converted into an up-type quark (
u, with a charge of +{{frac|2|3}}), by emitting a {{SubatomicParticle|W boson-}} boson or by absorbing a {{SubatomicParticle|W boson+}} boson. More precisely, the down-type quark becomes a
quantum superpositionQuantum superposition is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics. It holds that a physical system exists in all its particular, theoretically possible states simultaneously; but, when measured, it gives a result corresponding to only one of the possible configurations.Mathematically, it...
of up-type quarks: that is to say, it has a possibility of becoming any one of the three up-type quarks, with the probabilities given in the CKM matrix tables. Conversely, an up-type quark can emit a {{SubatomicParticle|W boson+}} boson – or absorb a {{SubatomicParticle|W boson-}} boson – and thereby be converted into a down-type quark, for example:
The W boson is unstable so will rapidly decay, with a very short lifetime. For example:
Decay of the W boson to other products can happen, with varying probabilities.
In the so-called
beta decayIn nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
of a neutron (see picture, above), a down quark within the neutron emits a
virtualIn physics, a virtual particle is a particle that exists for a limited time and space. The energy and momentum of a virtual particle are uncertain according to the uncertainty principle...
{{SubatomicParticle|W boson-}} boson and is thereby converted into an up quark, converting the neutron into a proton. Because of the energy involved in the process (i.e., the mass difference between the down quark and the up quark), the {{SubatomicParticle|W boson-}} boson can only be converted into an electron and an electron-antineutrino. At the quark level, the process can be represented as:
Neutral current interaction
In neutral current interactions, a quark or a lepton (e.g. an
electronThe electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
or a
muonThe muon |mu]] used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with a unitary negative electric charge and a spin of ½. Together with the electron, the tau, and the three neutrinos, it is classified as a lepton...
) emits or absorbs a neutral Z boson. For example:
Like the W boson, the Z boson also decays rapidly, for example:
Electroweak theory
{{main|Electroweak interaction}}
The
Standard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
of particle physics describes the electromagnetic interaction and the weak interaction as two different aspects of a single electroweak interaction, the theory of which was developed around 1968 by Sheldon Glashow,
Abdus SalamMohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk (Urdu: محمد عبد السلام, pronounced , (January 29, 1926– November 21, 1996) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the electroweak unification of the...
and
Steven WeinbergSteven Weinberg is 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....
. They were awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. The
Higgs mechanismIn particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is the process in which gauge bosons in a gauge theory can acquire non-vanishing masses through absorption of Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising in spontaneous symmetry breaking....
provides an explanation for the presence of three massive gauge bosons (the three carriers of the weak interaction) and the massless photon of the electromagnetic interaction.
According to the electroweak theory, at very high energies, the universe has four massless gauge boson fields similar to the
photonIn physics, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force...
and a complex scalar Higgs field doublet. However, at low energies, gauge symmetry is
spontaneously brokenSpontaneous symmetry breaking is the process by which a system described in a theoretically symmetrical way ends up in an apparently asymmetric state....
down to the
U(1) symmetry of electromagnetism (one of the Higgs fields acquires a
vacuum expectation valueIn quantum field theory the vacuum expectation value of an operator is its average, expected value in the vacuum. The vacuum expectation value of an operator O is usually denoted by \langle O\rangle...
). This symmetry breaking would produce three massless
bosonIn particle and condensed matter physics, Goldstone bosons or Nambu–Goldstone bosons are bosons that appear necessarily in models exhibiting spontaneous breakdown of continuous symmetries...
s, but they become integrated by three photon-like fields (through the
Higgs mechanismIn particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is the process in which gauge bosons in a gauge theory can acquire non-vanishing masses through absorption of Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising in spontaneous symmetry breaking....
) giving them mass. These three fields become the {{SubatomicParticle|W boson+}} , {{SubatomicParticle|W boson-}} and Z bosons of the weak interaction, while the fourth gauge field which remains massless is the photon of electromagnetism.
Although this theory has made a number of predictions, including a prediction of the masses of the Z and W bosons before their discovery, the
Higgs bosonThe Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model...
itself has never been observed. Producing Higgs bosons is a major goal of the
Large Hadron ColliderThe Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
at
CERNThe European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
.
See also
- Weakless Universe
The Weakless Universe is a hypothetical universe that contains no weak interactions, but is otherwise very similar to our own universe.In particular, the Weakless Universe is constructed to have nuclear physics and chemistry identical to standard nuclear physics and chemistry...
– the postulate that weak interactions are not anthropically necessaryIn astrophysics and cosmology, the anthropic principle is the philosophical argument that observations of the physical Universe must be compatible with the conscious life that observes it. Some proponents of the argument reason that it explains why the Universe has the age and the fundamental...
Texts
{{FundamentalForces}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2011}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weak Interaction}}