/ English Dictionary |
FUNDAMENTAL INTERACTION
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(physics) the transfer of energy between elementary particles or between an elementary particle and a field or between fields; mediated by gauge bosons
Synonyms:
fundamental interaction; interaction
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural phenomena
Hypernyms ("fundamental interaction" is a kind of...):
physical phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the physical properties of matter and energy)
Domain category:
natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fundamental interaction"):
electromagnetic interaction (an interaction between charged elementary particles that is intermediate in strength between the strong and weak interactions; mediated by photons)
gravitational interaction (a weak interaction between particles that results from their mass; mediated by gravitons)
color force; strong force; strong interaction ((physics) the interaction that binds protons and neutrons together in the nuclei of atoms; mediated by gluons)
weak force; weak interaction ((physics) an interaction between elementary particles involving neutrinos or antineutrinos that is responsible for certain kinds of radioactive decay; mediated by intermediate vector bosons)