Nucleoner

Nucleoner is a hypothetical elementary particle proposed as a short-range mediator of the strong interaction between nucleons. The term blends "nucleon" with the suffix -er to indicate a carrier particle associated with nuclear forces. It appears in discussions of extensions to the Standard Model that aim to modify or supplement meson exchange descriptions of nuclei.

In typical theoretical schemes, the nucleoner is a neutral boson (spin 0 or 1) with a mass in the MeV to GeV range. It couples primarily to protons and neutrons, with a Yukawa-type interaction that yields a nuclear force component with a characteristic range inversely proportional to its mass. The coupling strength is model dependent and often assumed small to comply with existing data.

Production and decay: It could be produced in high-energy hadronic collisions or in dedicated low-energy nuclear experiments and may decay into pairs of nucleons, pions, or light leptons depending on its couplings. Its experimental signature is a localized deviation from conventional meson-exchange potentials or a resonance in nucleon-nucleon channels.

Experimental status: As of now, there is no confirmed evidence for a nucleoner. Global fits to nuclear scattering data, binding energies, and precision experiments place upper limits on its couplings. Astrophysical observations also constrain light bosons with nucleon couplings, limiting viable parameter space.

If present, the nucleoner would influence models of short-range nuclear forces, potentially affecting neutron-rich systems, nuclear matter equations of state, and neutrino-nucleus interactions. It remains a speculative construct without experimental validation.

See also: meson exchange, dibaryon, baryon number, Yukawa potential, beyond-Standard-Model physics.