psi particle

[ sahy, psahy ]

noun

, Physics.

1. any of a family of mesons consisting of a charmed quark and a charmed antiquark.
2. an early name for the J/psi particle.

psi particle

noun

1. See J/psi particle

psi particle

/ sī,psī /

1. See J/psi particle

Word History and Origins

Origin of psi particle¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

In 1974, as part of a collaboration led by Burton Richter at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Dr. Goldhaber helped to discover the “j/psi particle,” the first of a new family of quarks, elementary particles from which other particles are built.

From New York Times

In 1974 he found and named the psi particle, which gave physicists conclusive evidence that quarks really exist.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tentatively called a "J" particle by Ting's team, which used the 33 billion-electron-volt accelerator at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and a "Psi" particle by Richter's group at the two-mile-long Stanford Linear Accelerator, it was the heaviest atomic fragment ever found�almost 3% times more massive than the proton.

From Time Magazine Archive

The bit of matter, called the J particle by Ting and the psi particle by Richter, gave solid experimental support to the evolving theory that the basic building blocks of matter are a family of particles called quarks.

From Time Magazine Archive

Since the simultaneous findings by Richter and Ting, at least seven more members of the J, or psi, particle family have been discovered, further strengthening the quark theory.

From Time Magazine Archive