nonhighenergy

Nonhighenergy is not a standard, formally defined term in established scientific literature. It is a neologism that may be used informally to denote phenomena, theories, or approaches that operate at energies below a chosen high-energy threshold. As such, its exact meaning depends on context and convention, and it is often contrasted with high-energy physics.

In practice, nonhighenergy typically refers to low-energy or nonrelativistic regimes where particle creation is suppressed and collective or emergent behaviors dominate. Examples include atomic, molecular, and condensed-matter systems, where interactions can often be described by effective theories, emergent excitations, or approximate symmetries rather than by full relativistic quantum field theory.

Because there is no universal energy cutoff, the term is ambiguous. Different communities may adopt different thresholds depending on the subject. In atomic and condensed-matter contexts, nonhighenergy might mean energies ranging from meV to eV, well below particle-production scales. In particle physics, it could refer to energies well below GeV scales, where nonrelativistic approximations or effective field theories are appropriate.

The term is largely descriptive and tactical rather than a precise category. It is usually replaced in formal writing by explicit references to energy scales, such as low-energy, nonrelativistic, or effective-theory regimes. Critics argue that nonhighenergy is imprecise and can obscure which physical assumptions are in effect.

See also: low-energy physics, high-energy physics, nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, effective field theory.