W and Z Bosons
Known together as the weak bosons, the W and Z bosons are the elementary particles that, as can be suspected, mediate the weak nuclear force. The bosons are symbolized by W+, W- and Z.
The W bosons have a positive and negative electric charge of 1 elementary charge, corresponding to their particular + or -, and they are each other’s antiparticle. On the other hand, the Z boson is electrically neutral - and is its own antiparticle. All three of the particles lead very short lives - they have a half-live of about 3×10−25 s.
Physicist Steven Weinberg named the Z particle as such because of its ‘zero’ electric charge and it was the “last additional particle needed by the [Standard] model.” The W bosons were named after the Weak force.
The Z boson is most easily detected as a necessary theoretical force-mediator whenever neutrinos scatter elastically from matter, something that must happen without the production or absorption of new, charged particles. Such behavior (which is almost as common as inelastic neutrino interactions) is seen in bubble chambers irradiated with neutrino beams.
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