Due to their large mass (approximately 90 GeV/c2[REF]) these carrier particles, termed the W and Z bosons, are short-lived with a lifetime of under 10−24 seconds [REF].
Due to the large masses of the W bosons, particle transformations or decays (e.g., flavour change) that depend on the weak interaction typically occur much more slowly than transformations or decays that depend only on the strong or electromagnetic forces.