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Glite Dictionary
charmonium

charmonium

9.9
A small particle made of a charm quark and its antimatter partner
  • noun
  • /ˌtʃɑːrˈmoʊniəm/
  • Specialized
: charmonium
  • In high-energy physics, charmonium plays a crucial role in understanding the interactions of charm quarks.

So in some sense the charmonium is the first direct, you first directly see the quarks.

Examples

  • By the time arguments with the editors of Physical Review Letters about the neologism "charmonium" had been settled, the historic discovery of the J/? -- the first charmonium state -- had been announced on 11 November 1974.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The measurement of the production rate of the J/? and other charmonium mesons was a key indicator of possible new phenomena in the pioneering CERN experiments.

    Academic text (2003)

  • So in some sense the charmonium is the first direct, you first directly see the quarks.

    MIT OpenCourseWare

  • "The discovery of charmonium was a huge psychological boost for asymptotic freedom," recalls Wilczek.

    Academic text (2004)

  • By the time arguments with the editors of Physical Review Letters about the neologism "charmonium" had been settled, the historic discovery of the J/? -- the first charmonium state -- had been announced on 11 November 1974.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Appelquist and Politzer calculated that if the charmed quark exists, it should form a bound charm-anticharm state with an extraordinarily narrow width plus a positronium-like set of excited "charmonium" states.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The physicists were excited to study the charmonium state produced in the particle collision experiment.

  • New research revealed that the charmonium particle exhibits unique properties that challenge previous theories.

Surface Forms

charmonium singular
charmonia plural

Morphology

charmonium = charm (semi-transparent) = charm + onium

Formed from 'charm' plus the specialized scientific suffix '-onium'; 'charm' is visible but '-onium' is a technical morpheme unfamiliar to general learners.

Etymology

The word charmonium comes from the particle name charm and the ending -onium, which scientists use to name a particle made of a particle plus its opposite, as in positronium. So charmonium literally means a 'charm' and an 'anti-charm' held together, which is why it is a particle made of a charm quark and its corresponding antiquark.