graviton

/ˈɡɹavɪtɒn/

graviton

English Noun Top 46,042

Definition

A hypothetical gauge boson that regulates the gravitational force. It would have a spin of 2 and zero rest mass.

Etymology

From gravity + -on. Coined by Russian physicists Dmitrii Blokhintsev and F. M. Gal'perin in 1934, and reintroduced by English physicist Paul Dirac in 1959 in a lecture to the American Physical Society.