proto-photon

noun

A theoretical but not yet detected particle proposed to explain, among other things, the mechanisms of gravity; a gauge boson.

Meanings

nounproto-photon (plural proto-photons)

plural proto-photons

  1. rarenatural sciencesA theoretical but not yet detected particle proposed to explain, among other things, the mechanisms of gravity; a gauge boson.

    Since the proto-photon has no charge, it does not seem likely that we could detect such "orbital" motion for the electron-photon system.

    1966, Michael M. Hare, Microcosm and macrocosm
    2 more examples

    Notice that here we slightly deviate from traditional VMD-2 because we include a direct coupling between the pions and the proto-photon.

    2007, Acta Physica Polonica - Volume 38, Issues 5-6, page 2080

    It is shown how the assumption that a singlet gauge boson (a proto-photon) and the neutral member of a triplet W=t° are mixed leads to the identification of the couplings of the quarks and leptons to the neutral intermediate boson Z°.

    2012, M. G. Bowler, Femtophysics: A Short Course on Particle Physics, →ISBN, page viii

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

proto-photon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proto-photon

MLA

“proto-photon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proto-photon. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “proto-photon,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/proto-photon.

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