muon
noun/ˈmjuːɒn/
Etymology Contraction of the earlier term mu-meson; the particle has now been recategorised as a lepton. Coined by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi in 1951 in his book Elementary Particles.
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Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics An unstable elementary particle in the lepton family, having similar properties to the electron but with a mass 207 times greater.
- The μ-meson of Powell (called here muon) is instead a disintegration product of the pion, only weakly linked to the nucleons and therefore of little importance in the explanation of nuclear forces.1951, Enrico Fermi, Elementary Particles:
- The spectrum of electrons arising from the decay of the negative mu meson has been determined. The muons are arrested in the gas of a high pressure hydrogen filled diffusion cloud chamber.1955 March, CP Sargent, “Diffusion Cloud-Chamber Study of Very Slow Mesons”, in Physical Review:
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- The data comes from experiments at the Fermilab US particle accelerator facility, which explored how subatomic particles called muons – similar to electrons but about 200 times heavier – move in a magnetic field.2023 August 11, Nicola Davis, “Scientists may be on brink of discovering fifth force of nature”, in The Guardian: