Q-ball

noun

A charged soliton that represents the lowest possible energy state of its components and is therefore stable.

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Meanings

Q-ball1

nounQ-ball (plural Q-balls)

plural Q-balls

  1. A charged soliton that represents the lowest possible energy state of its components and is therefore stable.

    Q-ball collisions are studied numerically on a two dimensional lattice for a range of Q-ball charges.

    2001, Tuomas Multamäki, “Q-ball Collisions in the MSSM”, in Strong and Electroweak Matter 2000, page 348
    2 more examples

    If you're going to fly inside Mercury's orbit and hurl a bomb into the sun to burst its Q-ball (non-topological soliton) into pieces, I suggest that home may require a theoretical solution.

    2008, Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2009, page 880

    A complex scalar theory in three dimensions with a cubic coupling can support classically stable, time-dependent, non-topological solutions to the equations of motion that carry a global charge Q, called Q-balls.

    2009, Noah Graham, Markus Quandt, Herbert Weigel, Specral Methods in Quantum Field Theory, page 171

Q-ball2

noun
  1. slangAn illicit drug made up from quetiapine and cocaine.

Origin

From Q (“charge”) + ball, coined by physicist Sidney Coleman. In physics, charge is often represented by the letter Q, and the soliton is spherically symmetric.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Q-ball. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Q-ball

MLA

“Q-ball.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Q-ball. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Q-ball,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Q-ball.

Source: Q-ball on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.