electroweakadj.
/ᵻˌlɛktrəʊˈwiːk/, U.S. /əˌlɛktroʊˈwik/, /iˌlɛktroʊˈwik/ Particle Physics.
Designating the single interaction or force of which the electromagnetic and the weak interactions are regarded as different manifestations at the energies encountered in practice; of or relating to this force.
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the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > weak or strong force > [adjective] > relating to weak force > and electromagnetic
electroweak1978
1978 Sci. News 11 Nov. 327/2 Abdus Salam, one of the people who started the work on the unified field theory, has been going around calling it ‘electroweak’.
1984 D. C. Giancoli Gen. Physics xliii. 857 The electroweak theory has had many successes, including the prediction of the W± particles.
1986 Sci. Amer. July 35/3 About 10−35 second after the big bang the strong force separated from the electroweak force.
1991 C. A. Ronan Nat. Hist. Universe 28/2 In 1983 the W and Z particles were actually observed in the proton–antiproton collider at CERN, confirming the existence of the unified electroweak force.
1995 New Scientist 23 Sept. 20/1 The existence of monopoles has been predicted by almost all grand unified theories, which try to show that the strong nuclear and electroweak force are merely different faces of the same coin.
2004 Nature 11 Mar. 142/1 The Higgs boson also manifests itself indirectly through so-called quantum-loop effects. These modify the basic, or lowest-order, electroweak interaction processes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1978