one of a set of integers or half-integers characterizing the energy states of a particle or system of particles. A function of the number multiplied by a fixed quantity gives the observed value of some specified physical quantity possessed by the system
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
quan′tum num′ber, [Physics.]
- Physicsany integer or half of an odd integer that distinguishes one of the discrete states of a quantum-mechanical system.
- Physicsany number that distinguishes among different members of a family of elementary particles.
- 1915–20
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'quantum number' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
K-shell
- L-shell
- M-shell
- N-shell
- Zeeman effect
- azimuthal quantum number
- baryon number
- bottom quark
- charm
- fine structure
- hypercharge
- isotopic spin
- lepton number
- magnetic quantum number
- orbital quantum number
- parity
- principal quantum number
- rotational quantum number
- shell
- spin
- spin quantum number
- strange particle
- strangeness
- subshell
- total quantum number
- vibrational quantum number