Gluon

Uncommon card · No. 79132

A gluon ( GLOO-on) is a type of massless elementary particle that mediates the strong interaction between quarks, acting as the exchange particle for the interaction. Gluons are massless vector bosons, thereby having a spin of 1. Through the strong interaction, gluons bind quarks into groups according to quantum chromodynamics (QCD), forming hadrons such as protons and neutrons. Gluons carry the color charge of the strong interaction, thereby participating in the strong interaction as well as mediating it. Because gluons carry the color charge, QCD is more difficult to analyze compared to quantum electrodynamics (QED) where the photon carries no electric charge. Murray Gell-Mann claimed in an interview that the term was first used by Edward Teller for a different particle. Gell-Mann used the term in a 1962 paper, and is described as a word similar glue, referring to an adhesive that keeps the nucleus together. Together with the quarks and antiquarks, these particles were referred to as...

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