Tau (particle)
The
Tau lepton (or
tauon) is a negatively charged
elementary particle with a high
mass of 1777 MeV. It is associated with an
antiparticle and a
neutrino. It is a 3rd generation of matter particle, and quickly decays to a stable 1st generation (normal
matter) particle. Due to approximate tauon number conservation (neutrino oscillations violate this "conservation" law) (lepton number conservation), a tau neutrino is created when a tauon decays to a lighter lepton (
muon or
electron). Except for its high mass and its instability, a tauon otherwise resembles an
electron.
This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.