hadron

Definition

A composite particle that comprises two or more quarks held together by the strong force and (consequently) can interact with other particles via said force; a meson or a baryon.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἁδρός (hadrós, “thick”) + -on. Coined by Russian physicist Lev Okun in 1962 in a plenary talk at the International Conference on High Energy Physics.

Example Sentences

• "The weak decays of b hadrons are dominated by the spectator model process whereby the b quark decays to a c quark (or occasionally a u quark) with the emission of an external W, while the non-b antiquark or diquark acts simply as a passive spectator to the decay."
• "One can use the lattice simulations, which do represent the rigorous consequences of non-perturbative QCD, as guidance for models of hadron structure."
• "And hence colour, which was initially an ad hoc concept, later turned out to be an empirically confirmed reality of hadrons."