Boson Boson In quantum mechanics, a boson (, ) is a particle that follows Bose–Einstein statistics. Bosons make up one of the two classes of particles, the other being fermions. The name boson was coined by Paul Dirac to commemorate the contribution of Indian physicist and professor of physics at University of Calcutta and at University of Dhaka, Satyendra Nath Bose in developing, with Albert Einstein, Bose–Einstein statistics—which theorizes the characteristics of elementary particles. Examples of bosons include fundamental particles such as photons, gluons, and W and Z bosons (the four force-carrying gauge bosons of the Standard Model), the recently discovered
Ghost (physics) Ghost (physics) In the terminology of quantum field theory, a ghost, ghost field, or gauge ghost is an unphysical state in a gauge theory. Ghosts are necessary to keep gauge invariance in theories where the local fields exceed a number of physical degrees of freedom. Faddeev–Popov ghosts are extraneous fields which are introduced to maintain the consistency of the path integral formulation. They are named after Ludvig Faddeev and Victor Popov. Faddeev–Popov ghosts are sometimes referred to as "good ghosts". Goldstone bosons are sometimes referred to as ghosts. Mainly, when speaking about the vanishing bosons of the spontaneous symmetry breaking