List of hypothetical particles

This is a list of hypothetical subatomic particles in physics.

Elementary particles

Some theories predict the existence of additional elementary bosons and fermions that are not found in the Standard Model.

Particles predicted by supersymmetric theories

Supersymmetry predicts the existence of superpartners to particles in the Standard Model, none of which have been confirmed experimentally. The sfermions (spin-0) include:

Another hypothetical sfermion is the saxion, superpartner of the axion. Forms a supermultiplet, together with the axino and the axion, in supersymmetric extensions of Peccei–Quinn theory.

The predicted bosinos (spin

12) are

Just as the photon, Z and W± bosons are superpositions of the B0, W0, W1, and W2 fields, the photino, zino, and wino± are superpositions of the bino0, wino0, wino1, and wino2. No matter if one uses the original gauginos or this superpositions as a basis, the only predicted physical particles are neutralinos and charginos as a superposition of them together with the Higgsinos.

Other superpartner categories include:

  • Charginos, superpositions of the superpartners of charged Standard Model bosons: charged Higgs boson and W boson. The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) predicts two pairs of charginos.
  • Neutralinos, superpositions of the superpartners of neutral Standard Model bosons: neutral Higgs boson, Z boson and photon. The lightest neutralino is a leading candidate for dark matter. The MSSM predicts four neutralinos.
  • Goldstinos are fermions produced by the spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry; they are the supersymmetric counterpart of Goldstone bosons.
  • Sgoldstino, superpartners of goldstinos.

Dark energy candidates

The following hypothetical particles have been proposed to explain dark energy:

Dark matter candidates

The following categories are not unique or distinct: For example, either a WIMP or a WISP is also a FIP.

Hidden sector theories have also proposed forces that only interact with dark matter, like dark photons.

From experimental anomalies

These hypothetical particles were claimed to be found or hypothesized to explain unusual experimental results. They relate to experimental anomalies but have not been reproduced independently or might be due to experimental errors:

Other

  • Cosmon, hypothetical state containing the observable universe before the Big Bang.
  • Diproton (He-2), nuclei consisting of two protons and no neutrons. Yet unobserved.
  • Diquark, hypothetical state of two quarks grouped inside a baryon.
  • Geons are electromagnetic or gravitational waves which are held together in a confined region by the gravitational attraction of their own field of energy.
  • Kaluza–Klein towers of particles are predicted by some models of extra dimensions. The extra-dimensional momentum is manifested as extra mass in four-dimensional spacetime.
  • Pomerons, used to explain the elastic scattering of hadrons and the location of Regge poles in Regge theory. A counterpart to odderons.

By type

See also

References

Uses material from the Wikipedia article List of hypothetical particles, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.