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A gauge boson is said to have no mass and yet it is said to be a force carrier, meaning it is has energy? Given the equivalency of mass and energy how can this be?

Qmechanic
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Brando
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1 Answers1

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The term mass (as in "a gauge boson is massless") is currently used to name the invariant rest mass $m_0$, which satisfies the equation $m_0^2=E^2-p^2$ (where $E$ is the energy and $p$ is the three-momentum). The "mass" $m=E$ equivalent to the energy is dependent of the frame of reference and now physicists prefer to just refer to it as energy.

Therefore, a particle with zero mass $m_0=0$ can have nonzero energy if it has some momentum.

coconut
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