Gauge Boson

In the standard model of particle physics, Gauge bosons are a family of particles which are believed to carry force. The electromagnetic, gravity, strong and weak forces exist due to a variety of Gauge bosons, with each force having a different boson that causes it:

• electromagnetic: like charges repel, opposite charges attract thanks to virtual photons.
• gravity: all mass attracts due to the graviton. (We think. The graviton has not yet been verified experimentally.)
• strong force: quarks within atomic nuclei stick together with gluons.
• weak force: radioactive decay occurs thanks to the W⁺, W^- and Z⁰ bosons.
• mass: some theories suggest that mass is a phenomenon caused by a Gauge boson called the Higgs boson, (also called The God Particle in a book of the same name).

Gauge bosons are routinely created and destroyed throughout the universe. Imagine two electrons in close proximity to eachother. They have the same charge so we expect them to repel. What happens is that they hurl virtual photons at each other, and the energy from the virtual photons they catch is used to move away from each other.

Bosons were named after Satyendra Nath Bose.