Meson

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Meson \Mes"on\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. me`son middle, neut. of me`sos,
     a., middle.]
     1. (Anat.) The mesial plane dividing the body of an animal
        into similar right and left halves. The line in which it
        meets the dorsal surface has been called the dorsimeson,
        and the corresponding ventral edge the ventrimeson. --B.


        G. Wilder.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Physics) An elementary particle made up of two quarks; a
        hadron having a baryon number of zero; any hadron other
        than a baryon. Mesons are bosons with integral values of
        spin, having a mass intermediate between those of the
        electron and a nucleon; they may have positive or negative
        charges, or may be neutral. Mesons are of three types: the
        {pion} ([pi]-meson), {kaon} (K-mesons), and
        {[eta]-mesons}.
        [PJC]
  
     {mu meson} (Physics) the former name for the {muon}, a
        particle which is not a true meson[2]. The term is no
        longer used in technical literature, except historically.
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  meson
       n : an elementary particle responsible for the forces in the
           atomic nucleus; a hadron with a baryon number of 0 [syn:
           {mesotron}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  38 Moby Thesaurus words for "meson":
     Kern, NMR, alpha particle, antibaryon, antilepton, antimeson, atom,
     atomic nucleus, atomic particle, aurora particle, baryon,
     beta particle, electron, elementary particle, heavy particle, ion,
     lepton, mesotron, molecule, monad, neutron, nuclear force,
     nuclear magnetic resonance, nuclear particle, nuclear resonance,
     nucleon, nucleosynthesis, nucleus, photon, proton, quark,
     radioactive particle, radion, solar particle, strangeness,
     strong interaction, triton, valence electron