LEPTONS

1. LEPTONS By Jonathan Sargent

2. Features of a Lepton • Leptons are Sub atomic Particles • They have a spin of a ½ • Leptons together form a family of fermions • Leptons do not experience the strong force but do respond to the electromagnetic force, wea force, and gravitational force.

3. Types of Lepton There are six different types of lepton in the present structure: • Electron • Muon • Tau • Each of these particles also have their separate associated neutrinos.

4. Table of Leptons

5. Facts of Leptons • Each lepton type is represented by a pair of particles called a weak doublet. • One is a massive charged particle that bears the same name as its type (like the electron) • The other is a nearly massless neutral particle called a neutrino (such as the electron neutrino). • All six of these particles have corresponding antiparticles (such as the positron or the electron antineutrino). • All known charged leptons have a single unit of negative or positive electric charge • All of the neutrinos and antineutrinos have zero electric charge.

6. Interaction of Particles • When particles interact, usually the number of leptons of the same type (electrons and electron neutrinos, muons and muon neutrinos) remains the same. • This principle is known as the conservation of lepton number. • Conservation of the number of leptons of different types (for example, electron number or muon number) may sometimes be violated, for example: neutrino oscillation. • Neutrino oscillation is a quantum mechanical phenomenon where a neutrino created with a specific lepton type can later be measured to have a different type.