▪ I. parton Nuclear Physics.
(ˈpɑːtɒn)
[f. particle n. + -on1.]
Each of the hypothetical point-like constituents of the nucleon that were invoked by R. P. Feynman to explain the way the nucleon inelastically scatters electrons of very high energy.
The printed coinage was published after the term had been given currency by Feynman in discussions.
| 1969 New Scientist 26 June 679/2 A similar ‘current bun’ concept of the proton is implied by the so-called ‘parton’ theory of Feynmann [sic]. 1969 R. P. Feynman in C. N. Yang et al. High Energy Collisions 241, I call the fundamental bare particles of my underlying field theory ‘partons’. 1973 Sci. Amer. Aug. 34/3 There is some evidence that partons and quarks are the same, although they have been postulated in different ways. 1974 M. L. Perl High Energy Hadron Physics xx. 482 We take the partons to be point particles with fixed mass and fixed internal quantum numbers... The quark model discussed in Ch. 14 is a particular form of the parton model in which the partons have been assigned a particular set of internal quantum numbers. |
▪ II. parton, partoner
see partan, partner.