Z boson

The Z boson is a neutral, massive elementary particle that mediates neutral-current weak interactions. It is one of the electroweak force carriers, alongside the W bosons and photon.

Neutral current: A weak interaction in which particles exchange a neutral force carrier without changing electric charge. The Z boson mediates these interactions, distinguishing them from charged-current processes.
Electroweak interaction: The unified theoretical description of electromagnetic and weak interactions. The Z boson is one of the force carriers in this unified framework.
Sheldon Glashow: Theoretical physicist who helped formulate the electroweak theory. His work helped establish the framework that predicted a neutral weak boson.
Large Electron–Positron Collider: A CERN collider that operated from 1989 to 2000 and produced millions of Z bosons. Its measurements established precise properties of the Z boson.
Fermi theory: A low-energy description of weak interactions using a point-like four-fermion interaction. It predates the force-carrier account in which the Z boson mediates neutral currents.
Weak isospin: A quantum number governing how particles participate in the weak interaction. Weak isospin helps determine the Z boson’s couplings to fermions.
Gauge boson: A boson associated with a gauge symmetry and mediating a fundamental interaction. The Z boson is the massive neutral gauge boson of the electroweak interaction.
Abdus Salam: Theoretical physicist who independently developed the electroweak theory with Steven Weinberg. His electroweak model included the neutral gauge boson later identified as the Z.
Z boson mass: The rest mass of the Z boson, measured to be about 91.2 gigaelectronvolts. Its precise value tests electroweak theory and constrains other particle properties.
Glashow–Iliopoulos–Maiani mechanism: A mechanism suppressing flavor-changing neutral currents in the Standard Model. The Z boson’s neutral currents preserve flavor at tree level, motivating this suppression mechanism.

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