Feynman Diagrams: Gauge Bosons

As I've mentioned multiple times: Gauge Bosons are force carriers and all of them have a spin of 1. Note that these bosons transfer momentum, energy and spin. Thus if you look at a Feynman diagram the interacting particles tend to change direction of particles post interaction because they can transfer momentum.

Virtual particles last for very short periods of time They are similar to regular particles in the fact that they are "clumps" in their respective field, the difference being that the energy level of these clumps are lower than that of regular particles. Virtual particles temporarily borrow energy from quantum fluctuations and then like the customer of a bank, pay the bank back by transferring the energy in order to become stable. Virtual particles include vector* bosons, scalar bosons and mesons. Vector bosons also include known Gauge Bosons such as W, Z bosons, gluons, and photons while scalar bosons include the Higgs Boson.

 Photons are gauge bosons that moderate the interaction between charged particles and the electromagnetic field. Its part of the electromagnetic field because it has a magnetic field component. Repulsion and attraction between charged particles is mediated by virtual photons. If this doesn't make sense think about the photo-electric effect where photons result in electron emissions. The virtual photons "disappear" by transferring their energy and momentum to the charged particles in opposite directions to create a perceived repulsion or attraction. 

W and Z bosons are part of the electroweak field. W Bosons can be + or -  charged, and are the primary driver of beta decay and carriers of the weak force and transfers charge. The weak force is the force that governs interactions between leptons and hadrons; often occur at very small distances.  Beta decay is process that occurs because of the weak force and is a result of too many protons or neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.  But you see the entire proton or neutron isn't changing, only a single quark is changing. The W+ boson being separating from the up quark means that the up quark becomes less positive and thus becomes a down quark. We can also see how the W bosons instability causes it to decay into stable fermions.

 

E= planks constant/(change in time): the more energy the boson borrows, the lesser the time the boson will live.

Another Weak force boson is Z boson which is neutrally charged. When annihilation of the W- and W+ boson occurs, a Z boson can be produced. Z bosons are the mediators of neutral current; a subset of the weak force where the boson doesn't transfer charge or change the quantum numbers of the interacting particles, unlike the W bosons. It's used to explain interactions involving particles with no charge such as neutrinos that can only interact with each other and other particles at small distances (ex. : electrons and electron neutrino "repulsion")

* w/direction