Symbols for Fundamental Particles

• Published in: Nature (London) 1954-01, Vol.173 (4394), p.123-123
• Main Authors: AMALDI, E, ANDERSON, C. D, BLACKETT, P. M. S, FRETTER, W. B, LEPRINCE-RINGUET, L, PETERS, B, POWELL, C. F, ROCHESTER, G. D, ROSSI, B, THOMPSON, R. W
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Humanities and Social Sciences; letter; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/173123a0

IN recent years we have witnessed startling developments in the field of fundamental particles. One of the consequences has been the appearance in the scientific literature of a new jargon and of a large number of new symbols. Some symbols (such as π, µ, τ) designate specific kinds of particles. Others (such as ρ, σ) have been used to describe merely a phenomenological behaviour. Various authors have called the same particle by different names or have attached different meanings to the same symbol. Sometimes the meaning of a symbol has changed through the years. To give an example, the Greek letter χ was used initially to describe a heavy meson which stops in the emulsion and afterwards decays, giving rise to a single ionizing particle. Later, the Latin letter K replaced the Greek letter χ as a code for the above phenomenological description, while the letter χ acquired a more definite physical meaning: that of a heavy meson which decays into one charged and two neutral particles. Sometimes, however, the letter K is also used to designate any charged particle, heavier than a π-meson and lighter than a proton, the mode of decay of which is unknown. As another example, the neutral particle of mass about 1,000 m e , which decays into two π-mesons, has been variously named v 0 , V 2 0 , V 4 0 , whereas some authors have used the letter V 2 0 to designate any V 0 -particle different from the so-called V 1 0 .