Fermion (redirected from Spin 1/2 particles)

fermion (fûr`mēŏn'): see elementary particles; exclusion principle; Fermi-Dirac statistics.

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fermion

Any of a group of subatomic particles having odd half-integral spin (¹⁄₂, ³⁄₂). Fermions are named for the Fermi-Dirac statistics that describe their behaviour. They include particles in the class of leptons, baryons, and nuclei of odd mass number (e.g., tritium, helium-3, uranium-233). They obey the Pauli exclusion principle. Fermions are produced and undergo annihilation in particle-antiparticle pairs. See also boson.

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fermion [′fer·mē‚än]

(quantum mechanics)

A particle, such as the electron, proton, or neutron, which obeys the rule that the wave function of several identical particles changes sign when the coordinates of any pair are interchanged; it therefore obeys the Pauli exclusion principle.

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Fermion 

a particle with half-integral spin or an elementary excitation of a quantum system consisting of many particles, that is, a quasiparticle with half-integral spin. Fermions include all baryons—such as the proton, the neutron, and hyperons—and all leptons—the electron, the muon, and neutrinos—and the anti-particles of all baryons and leptons, as well as such quasiparticles as conduction electrons and holes in a solid. Bound systems consisting of an odd number of fermions are also fermions; examples of such systems are atomic nuclei with an odd atomic number and atoms with an odd difference between the atomic number and the number of electrons. The Pauli exclusion principle is valid for fermions. Consequently, systems consisting of identical fermions obey Fermi-Dirac statistics.