The carrier-particles tag has no wiki summary.
11
votes
5answers
2k views
Are W & Z bosons virtual or not?
W and Z bosons are observed/discovered. But as force carrying bosons they should be virtual particles, unobservable? And also they require to have mass, but if they are virtual they may be off-shell, ...
14
votes
5answers
973 views
How are forces “mediated”?
I hope this is the right word to use.
To me, these forces seem kind of fanciful (except for General Relativity and Gravity, which have a geometric interpretation).
For example, how do two charged ...
19
votes
3answers
593 views
Why is gravity such a unique force?
My knowledge on this particular field of physics is very sketchy, but I frequently hear of a theoretical "graviton", the quantum of the gravitational field. So I guess most physicists' assumption is ...
6
votes
1answer
787 views
Is the force carrier of the magnetism in a common household magnet a photon?
As I have understood it, the Standard Model includes particles that carry the different forces, e.g. the electromagnetic (EM) force, the gravitational (G) force. When talking about EM fields such as ...
