Mutationism

Mutationism (the Weak Force or Weak Interaction) was one of the four Great Forces. This force was responsible for altering the properties of matter, changing one particle into another, and by extension it was the cause of much radioactive decay. Mutationism did not act on force carriers. Mutationism was carried by two types of force carriers, debilons (which had either a positive or a negative electrical charge, and were denoted D+ or D-) and nullons (which were heavier than debilons but had zero charge, denoted N0). Because they had mass, debilons and nullons traveled slower than the speed of light and had limited range.

Properties
Mutationism could change quarks into other quarks and antiquarks, and change leptons into other leptons. Mutationism reactions either absorbed or emitted debilons and nullons.

Nullons changed the generation of a particle. When a quark or a lepton absorbed a nullon, they would move up a generation. An electron would change into a muon, and a muon would change into a tau. Up quarks would change into charm quarks, and charm quarks would change into top quarks. Nullons could be emitted when such particles decayed spontaneously into lighter particles. The nullons themselves would decay into neutrinos.

Debilons changed the generation of a particle as well as its charge. When a quark of lepton absorbed a debilon, they would move up a generation and their charge would be altered. An electron would change into a muon neutrino when interacting with a D+, and a D- would turn a positron into a muon neutrino. Up quarks, upon absorbing a D-, would change into strange quarks. Spontaneous decay of such particles would result in a release of the corresponding particles, which would decay into neutrinos, electrons or positrons.

When particles that were already negative absorbed a D-, they would release an electron. When particles that were already negative absorbed a D+, they would release a positron. Under certain conditions, however, mutationism could be used to make particles with electrical charges greater than 1.

Role
Mutationism was responsible for most nuclear reactions and radioactive decay, causing the spontaneous breakdown of many particles. Debilons and nullons could act on hadrons, and could change neutrons into protons. This was an essential element in stellar nuclear fusion, since it was the force that caused tritium to form helium-4 instead of hydrogen-4.

Mutationism was quite elusive, and therefore quite hard for force sensitives to detect or manipulate. Mutationism was important to overcome during the manufacturing of higher and lower generations of quarks and other types of exotic matter. Ligism and equilism were used to counter mutationism.