muon

A muon ( ; from the Greek letter mu (μ) used to represent it) is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with an electric charge of −1 e and a spin of  ħ, but with a much greater mass. It is classified as a lepton. As with other leptons, the muon is not thought to be composed of any constituent particles.

AI overview

A muon is a fundamental particle similar to an electron but much heavier, carrying a negative electric charge and classified as a type of particle called a lepton. Scientists consider muons to be basic building blocks of matter that are not made up of smaller particles.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Particle.name: Muon
Particle.image: Moon's shadow in muons.gif
Particle.caption: The Moon's cosmic ray shadow, as seen in secondary muons generated by cosmic rays in the atmosphere, and detected 700 m below ground, at the Soudan 2 detector
Particle.composition: Elementary particle
Particle.statistics: Fermionic
Particle.group: Lepton
Particle.generation: Second
Particle.interaction: Gravity, electromagnetic, weak
Particle.antiparticle: Antimuon ()
Particle.discovered: Carl D. Anderson, Seth Neddermeyer (1936)
Particle.decay_particle: Electron|, Electron antineutrino|, Muon neutrino| (most common)
Particle.electric_charge: −1 e
Particle.color_charge: None
Particle.spin:  ħ

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Mass: 0.1134289257
Image: Hard-component-muon-868x1024.png

Show 9 more facts

Monte Carlo Particle Number: 13
spin quantum number: 0.5
time of discovery or invention: 1937-00-00
half-life: 1.5228312
Commons category: Muons
electric charge: -1
magnetic moment: -0.000000000000000000000000044904478
mean lifetime: 0.0000021969811
g-factor: -2.0023318418

Sources (6)

via Wikidata · CC0

~23 min read

Article

17 sections

Contents

History of discovery
Muon sources
Muon decay
Decay modes
Prohibited decays
Theoretical decay rate
Muonic atoms
Negative muon atoms
Positive muon atoms
Anomalous magnetic dipole moment
Muon g−2
Electric dipole moment
Muon radiography and tomography
See also
References
Further reading
External links

The muon is an unstable subatomic particle with a mean lifetime of . Muon decay is slower than many other unstable particles because the decay is mediated by the weak interaction and because the mass difference between the muon and the set of its decay products is small, providing few kinetic degrees of freedom for decay. Muon decay always produces an electron (or positron) and two types of neutrinos.