noun
Freq #44946
Meanings
-
1
noun
a hypothetical massless spin-2 boson that would be the quantum carrier of gravity in a quantum theory of the gravitational field
In the proposed model, a graviton would carry one quantum of the gravitational field.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
1
noun
· a hypothetical massless...
quantum of gravity
Word family
Forms
gravitons
Derived forms
gravitonicantigravitonmultigraviton
Etymology
Formed from gravity + -on, the particle-name suffix also found in electron and proton. The term entered physics in the 1930s for the hypothetical quantum of the gravitational field.