Gluon
Elementary particle that mediates the strong force / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A gluon (/ˈɡluːɒn/ 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.[7] Through the strong interaction, gluons bind quarks into groups according to quantum chromodynamics (QCD), forming hadrons such as protons and neutrons.
Composition | Elementary particle |
---|---|
Statistics | Bosonic |
Family | Gauge boson |
Interactions | Strong interaction |
Symbol | g |
Theorized | Murray Gell-Mann (1962)[1] |
Discovered | e+e− → Υ(9.46) → 3g: 1978 at DORIS (DESY) by PLUTO experiments (see diagram 2 and recollection[2]) and |
Types | 8[4] |
Mass | 0 (theoretical value)[5] < 1.3 MeV/c2 (experimental limit) [6][5] |
Electric charge | 0 e[5] |
Color charge | octet (8 linearly independent types) |
Spin | 1 ħ |
Parity | -1 |
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.
The term was coined by Murray Gell-Mann in 1962[lower-alpha 1] for being similar to an adhesive or glue that keeps the nucleus together.[9] Together with the quarks, these particles were referred together as partons by Richard Feynman.[10]