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carrier boson (force carrier)
subject			fact

carrier boson	has synonym force carrier
	carries the force
	has definition A particle that carries one of the fundamental forces between other interacting particles. For example, the carrier boson for the electromagnetic force is the photon.
	has definition Particle that acts as the transmitters of forces. The best known example is the photon, which transmits electromagnetic forces. The gluons are the transmitters of the strong interactions, and the W+, W-, and Z0 particles are the transmitters of the weak interactions. See Table 7.1 on page 120.
	is a kind of boson
	is a kind of elementary particle
boson	has quantum behavior Bose-Einstein statistics
	has spin integral
elementary particle	has spin
particle	obeys uncertainty principle
	has frequency inversely proportional to the wavelength
	has wavelength inversely proportional to its momentum
	has charge
	has mass
physical object	has location or center of gravity
	has angular momentum
	has velocity
	has momentum
	has temperature
	has volume
	has extent
	has material

Kinds of carrier boson :

• gluon (10 facts) - The hypothetical particle that carries the force between quarks., Smallest bundle of the strong force field; messenger particle of the strong force., Quanta that carry the strong nuclear force. Like photons, vector bosons, and gravitons - the carriers respectively of electromagnetism, the weak force, and gravitation - gluons are massless bosons. Consequently, for simplicity's sake, some physicists lump together all the force-carrying quanta under the term "gluons"., The force-carrying particles associated with the strong interactions, the forces which bind quarks inside of protons and neutrons. For more details, see Yang-Mills theories., Gluons are the massless gauge bosons of QCD which mediate the strong color force between quarks. Because of the non-Abelian structure of the theory, gluons can interact with themselves, and may form particles consisting of gluons bound together. The existence of these "glueballs" has yet to be confirmed.
• graviton (12 facts) - A massless spin-2 particle which is the hypothetical quantum of the gravitational field. It mediates the force of gravity in a similar way to that in which the spin-1 gauge bosons (i.e. the photon, W^±, Z⁰, and gluons) mediate the other forces., A hypothetical elementary particle associated with the gravitational interaction. It is a stable particle with zero rest mass, zero charge, and a spin of ± 2, and travels with the speed of light., Smallest bundle of the gravitational force field; messenger particle for the gravitational force., The hypothetical quantum particle of the gravitational field. It could also be thought of as a quantized element of space-time curvature., A quantum of gravitational radiation., The quanta thought to convey gravitational force; analogous to the photons, gluons, and intermediate vector bosons of electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces. Predicted by quantum theory of gravity, gravitons have not yet been detected.
• photon (43 kinds, 137 facts) (electromagnetic radiation) - Smallest packet of the electromagnetic force field; messenger particle of the electromagnetic force; smallest bundle of light., The quantum of the electromagnetic field. It is the massless spin-1 gauge boson of QED. Virtual photons mediate the electromagnetic force between charged particles. Virtual photons can also adopt a mass for a short period, in accordance with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle., A transverse wave of electric and magnetic fields which can propagate through empty space.
• vector boson (2 kinds, 15 facts) (IVB) - Force-carrying particles of nature. Three vector bosons are responsible for the weak nuclear force. By admitting the photon on an equal footing it is possible to create a unified electroweak theory. As a result of symmetry-breaking processes, however, this photon remains massless while the three other vector bosons pick up mass., Also called the intermediate vector boson., A hypothetical elementary particle that acts as intermediary for the weak interaction, carrying its effect from one particle to another as the photon does for electromagnetic interactions and as various mesons do for the strong interactions.

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