Usage: usually capitalized B
Etymology: after Prince Louis V. de Broglie b1892 French physicist
: the hypothetical wave train that in wave-mechanical theory corresponds to a moving elementary particle (as an electron or proton), moves with it, and gives the particle certain wave properties (as interference and diffraction)
* * *
Physics.
a hypothetical wave associated with the motion of a particle of atomic or subatomic size that describes effects such as the diffraction of beams of particles by crystals. Also called matter wave.
[1925-30; named after L.V. DE BROGLIE]
Useful english dictionary. 2012.