We'd like to use analytics cookies to understand which symbols people look up, so we know what to research next. They are not used for advertising and we set none of them unless you say yes. What we store.
An italic capital I, treating the proton and neutron as one particle.
Also known as: Isotopic spin, Isobaric spin, Isospin
Isospin treats the proton and the neutron as two states of a single particle, in the same way spin-up and spin-down are two states of an electron. The mathematics is identical to spin, which is where the name comes from — there is no actual rotation involved.
Denotes isospin, a quantum number treating particles that differ only in charge as states of one entity.
Contexts: Laboratory
Uses the same SU(2) algebra as ordinary spin, which is the reason for the name, despite having nothing to do with rotation in space.
Contexts: Laboratory
Is conserved by the strong interaction and broken by the electromagnetic one, which is why the proton and neutron masses differ slightly.
Contexts: Laboratory
An italic capital letter I, a single vertical stroke, sometimes with a subscript numeral three.