Concept information
Preferred term
axion
Definition(s)
- The axion is a hypothetical weakly-interacting boson with a tiny mass of between 10⁻⁶ eV (less than one ten-trillionth the mass of a proton) and 10⁻³ eV. Its existence, first proposed in the early 1970s, would explain why CP violation is not observed in interactions involving the strong force, although it should be according to simple versions of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In other words, it would resolve what is known as the strong-CP problem in QCD. Axions would enable QCD to take account of the way the world of elementary particles distinguishes between left and right in some interactions, but not others. This is described in terms of axial symmetry, hence the name. Axions would be able efficiently to transport energy out of stars or out of supernova cores. They have also become candidates to explain cold dark matter. (Encyclopedia of Science, by David Darling, https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/A/axion.html)
Broader concept(s)
In other languages
-
French
URI
http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/MDL-S958VM5Z-0
{{label}}
{{#each values }} {{! loop through ConceptPropertyValue objects }}
{{#if prefLabel }}
{{/if}}
{{/each}}
{{#if notation }}{{ notation }} {{/if}}{{ prefLabel }}
{{#ifDifferentLabelLang lang }} ({{ lang }}){{/ifDifferentLabelLang}}
{{#if vocabName }}
{{ vocabName }}
{{/if}}