Partikkelimassat

Partikkelimassat refers to the masses of elementary particles, the fundamental constituents of matter and force carriers in particle physics. These masses are intrinsic properties of the particles themselves and are not to be confused with the total mass of an object, which is a composite of many particle masses and their associated energies. The concept of mass in particle physics is deeply intertwined with the Standard Model and the mechanism by which particles acquire mass, known as the Higgs mechanism.

In the Standard Model, fundamental particles are categorized into fermions (quarks and leptons) and bosons (force carriers and the Higgs boson). Fermions, which make up matter, have non-zero masses, with the exception of the photon and the gluon. Leptons like electrons and neutrinos have very different masses, with neutrino masses being particularly small and still a subject of ongoing research. Quarks also exhibit a wide range of masses.

Bosons, which mediate the fundamental forces, are generally massless, such as the photon (electromagnetism) and the gluon (strong nuclear force). However, the W and Z bosons, which mediate the weak nuclear force, are massive. This mass is crucial for the short-range nature of the weak interaction. The Higgs boson itself also has a significant mass. The precise values of these particle masses are determined experimentally and are input parameters of the Standard Model, not derived from it. Understanding the origin and values of these fundamental masses is a central goal of particle physics.