Color charge

Color charge is the quantum property that couples quarks and gluons to the strong interaction. It has three types conventionally called red, green, and blue, with corresponding anticolor charges.

Quantum chromodynamics: The quantum field theory describing quarks, gluons, and their strong interactions. Color charge is the source of the interaction described by this theory.
SU(3): The group of special unitary transformations on three complex dimensions. Its symmetry governs the three-component color charge in quantum chromodynamics.
Electric charge: A conserved quantum property that determines coupling to the electromagnetic field. Unlike electric charge, color charge has three types and is carried by force-mediating gluons.
Hadron: A composite particle held together by the strong interaction, made from quarks and gluons. Hadrons contain color-charged constituents but have no net color charge.
Hadronization: The process by which quarks and gluons turn into color-neutral hadrons. It describes how observable particles emerge from color-charged partons.
Gluon: The gauge boson of quantum chromodynamics, mediating interactions between color-charged particles. Gluons carry color charge and transfer it between quarks.
Gauge symmetry: A redundancy in a field theory’s mathematical description that constrains its interactions. Local gauge symmetry gives color charge its role in QCD.
Weak isospin: A quantum number associated with the weak interaction and its SU(2) gauge symmetry. It is another non-Abelian gauge charge, but it governs a different force.
Meson: A hadron composed of a quark and an antiquark. A quark’s color and an antiquark’s anticolor can form a neutral meson.
Color glass condensate: A high-density state of gluons predicted in fast-moving nuclei at very high energies. It probes the collective organization of color charge at small momentum fractions.

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