muon
Sign in to saveA muon ( ; from the Greek letter mu (μ) used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with an electric charge of −1 e and a spin of ħ, but with a much greater mass. It is classified as a lepton. As with other leptons, the muon is not thought to be composed of any constituent particles.
AI overview
A muon is a fundamental particle similar to an electron but much heavier, carrying a negative electric charge and classified as a type of particle called a lepton. Scientists consider muons to be basic building blocks of matter that are not made up of smaller particles.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Particle.name
- Muon
- Particle.image
- Moon's shadow in muons.gif
- Particle.caption
- The Moon's cosmic ray shadow, as seen in secondary muons generated by cosmic rays in the atmosphere, and detected 700 m below ground, at the Soudan 2 detector
- Particle.composition
- Elementary particle
- Particle.statistics
- Fermionic
- Particle.group
- Lepton
- Particle.generation
- Second
- Particle.interaction
- Gravity, electromagnetic, weak
- Particle.antiparticle
- Antimuon ()
- Particle.discovered
- Carl D. Anderson, Seth Neddermeyer (1936)
- Particle.decay_particle
- Electron|, Electron antineutrino|, Muon neutrino| (most common)
- Particle.electric_charge
Article
17 sectionsContents
- History of discovery
- Muon sources
- Muon decay
- Decay modes
- Prohibited decays
- Theoretical decay rate
- Muonic atoms
- Negative muon atoms
- Positive muon atoms
- Anomalous magnetic dipole moment
- Muon g−2
- Electric dipole moment
- Muon radiography and tomography
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
A muon ( ; from the Greek letter mu (μ) used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with an electric charge of −1 e and a spin of ħ, but with a much greater mass. It is classified as a lepton. As with other leptons, the muon is not thought to be composed of any constituent particles.
The muon is an unstable subatomic particle with a mean lifetime of . Muon decay is slower than many other unstable particles because the decay is mediated by the weak interaction and because the mass difference between the muon and the set of its decay products is small, providing few kinetic degrees of freedom for decay. Muon decay always produces an electron (or positron) and two types of neutrinos.