Particle physics

Particle physics

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Particle physics

Dark energy

Physics; Particle physics

A poorly understood (and non-luminous) substance that exerts a pressure that tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. This dark energy counteracts gravity's natural tendency to slow the ...

Atobarn (ab)

Physics; Particle physics

10 barns. A unit used to measure cross-section. The inverse of this unit is used to measure integrated luminosity.

Accelerators are ring-shaped or linear devices that accelerate charged particles. More powerful than any other microscope, high-energy accelerators allow physicists to study matter at the smallest ...

B-meson

Physics; Particle physics

A meson containing a bottom (b) quark, and one lighter anti-quark. The b quark is the second heaviest quark, and is found only at particle accelerators. Only the top quark is heavier.

Barn

Physics; Particle physics

A unit of cross-section, a barn is equal to 10 -28 m 2 .

Baryons

Physics; Particle physics

A hadron composed of three quarks. Examples include the protons and neutrons found in ordinary nuclei.

Branching ratio/fraction

Physics; Particle physics

When a particle decays, it often can decay in several ways. The likelihood of it decaying to a particular mode is known as its branching ratio for that decay mode.