W and Z bosons weak-force boson particle. Thus, this interaction requires a Z boson. These bosons are among the heavyweights of the elementary particles. With masses of and , respectively, the W and Z bosons are almost 80 times as massive as the proton – heavier, even, than entire iron atoms. Their high masses limit the range of the weak interaction. By way of contrast, the photon is the force carrier of the electromagnetic force and has zero mass, consistent with the infinite range of electromagnetism; the hypothetical graviton is also expected to have zero mass. (Although gluons are also presumed to have zero
Exchange operator Such motion is often not carried out in practice. Rather, the operation is treated as a "what if" similar to a parity inversion or time reversal operation. Consider two repeated operations of such a particle exchange: Therefore, formula_1 is not only unitary but also an operator square root of 1, which leaves the possibilities Both signs are realized in nature. Particles satisfying the case of +1 are called "bosons", and particles satisfying the case of −1 are called "fermions". The spin–statistics theorem dictates that all particles with integer spin are bosons whereas all particles with half-integer spin are fermions. The