nelectron

Nelectron is a hypothetical elementary particle that appears in some speculative physics models and science fiction as a heavier charged lepton or as a modified version of the electron. It is not part of the Standard Model and there is no experimental evidence for its existence.

In common fictional formulations, a nelectron would carry the same electric charge as the electron but a larger mass, and would have spin 1/2. Depending on the model, it might interact via the electromagnetic and weak forces and could mix with standard leptons, enabling rare decays or production in high-energy processes. Some variants suppose multiple states with different masses.

Potential production mechanisms include high-energy collisions in particle accelerators, or in the early universe. If stable, it could contribute to the relic content of the universe; if unstable, it would decay to lighter Standard Model particles such as electrons, neutrinos, photons, or W/Z bosons, with lifetimes dictated by the model.

Experiments at colliders and precision measurements have searched for signs of heavy charged leptons. No confirmed detections exist; mass bounds depend on decay channels and mixing with standard leptons, typically ruling out masses below the order of tens to hundreds of GeV in many scenarios.

Beyond fiction, the concept has been used in discussions of extended lepton sectors, vector-like leptons, and models addressing anomalies in lepton universality or dark sectors. It serves as a placeholder for exploring how new charged fermions would affect collider phenomenology and cosmology.