Protonaire

Protonaire is a term encountered in speculative physics discussions and in science fiction to denote a hypothetical subatomic entity associated with protons. It is not part of the standard model, and there is no experimental confirmation of such a particle.

In different contexts, protonaire may refer to a proposed light boson that would mediate a new force coupled primarily to protons or to baryon number; it may also denote a hypothetical composite state involving a proton and other constituents, or serve as a fictional energy carrier in a science-fiction universe.

The concept remains speculative. If a protonaire existed as a real particle, its properties would be constrained by conservation laws and by data from proton-proton scattering and other precision measurements. So far, searches at high-energy colliders have yielded no evidence for a resonance or decay compatible with a protonaire.

In science communication and fiction, protonaire is used to illustrate how new particles are proposed, tested, and constrained by existing experimental results, and to explore the implications of extending the standard model without contradicting known phenomena.

See also: baryon number, force carrier, beyond the standard model, hypothetical particle.