lepton (redirected from Lapton)

lep·ton  (lptn)

n.

Any of a family of elementary particles that participate in the weak interaction, including the electron, the muon, and their associated neutrinos. See Table at subatomic particle.

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[lepto- + -on.]

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lep·tonic (-tnk) adj.

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lepton¹

n pl -ta [-tə]

1. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Currencies) a former Greek monetary unit worth one hundredth of a drachma

2. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Currencies) a small coin of ancient Greece

[from Greek lepton (nomisma) small (coin)]

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lepton²

n

(Physics / Atomic Physics) Physics any of a group of elementary particles and their antiparticles, such as an electron, muon, or neutrino, that participate in electromagnetic and weak interactions and have a half-integral spin

[from lepto- + -on]

leptonic  adj

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lep•ton¹ (ˈlɛp tɒn)

n., pl. -ta (-tə).

1. a monetary unit of modern Greece, equal to 1/100 of the drachma.

2. a small copper or bronze coin of ancient Greece.

[1715–25; < Greek leptón (nómisma) a small (coin), n. use of neuter of leptós small; see lepto-]

lep•ton² (ˈlɛp tɒn)
n., pl. -tons.

any of a class of elementary particles with spin of ½ that are not subject to the strong force, as the electron and muon.

[1948; < Greek, neuter of leptós small, slight; see lepto-, -on¹]

lep•ton′ic, adj.

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lepton  (lptn)

Any of a family of elementary particles that interact through the weak force and do not participate in the strong force. Leptons include electrons, muons, tau particles, and their respective neutrinos, the electron neutrino, the muon neutrino, and the tau neutrino. The antiparticles of these six particles are also leptons. Compare hadron. See Note at elementary particle. See Table at subatomic particle.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	lepton - 100 lepta equal 1 drachma in Greece Greek monetary unit - monetary unit in Greece Greek drachma, drachma - formerly the basic unit of money in Greece
	2.	lepton - an elementary particle that participates in weak interactions; has a baryon number of 0 electron, negatron - an elementary particle with negative charge elementary particle, fundamental particle - (physics) a particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter fermion - any particle that obeys Fermi-Dirac statistics and is subject to the Pauli exclusion principle mu-meson, muon, negative muon - an elementary particle with a negative charge and a half-life of 2 microsecond; decays to electron and neutrino and antineutrino neutrino - an elementary particle with zero charge and zero mass tau-minus particle, tauon - a lepton of very great mass