Force carrier

A particle that mediates a fundamental interaction between other particles. In quantum field theory, force carriers are associated with fields and transmit interactions through particle exchange.

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Gauge boson: A boson associated with a gauge symmetry that mediates a fundamental interaction. Most Standard Model force carriers are gauge bosons.
Quantum electrodynamics: The quantum field theory of electromagnetism and its interactions with charged particles. It models electromagnetic interactions through photon exchange.
Photon: The massless spin-one quantum of the electromagnetic field. It mediates electromagnetism and has infinite range.
Color confinement: The phenomenon that isolated quarks and gluons are not observed as free particles. It prevents gluons from appearing as freely propagating carriers at ordinary energies.
Quantum field: A field whose quantized excitations are particles. Force carriers are described as excitations of interaction fields.
Virtual particle: An intermediate particle in a perturbative calculation that is not directly observed as a free particle. Virtual exchange is a common way to represent forces in quantum field theory.
Gluon: A massless spin-one gauge boson that mediates the strong interaction between color charges. Eight gluon types carry the strong interaction between quarks.
Higgs mechanism: A process by which gauge bosons acquire mass through interaction with the Higgs field. It explains why the weak carriers are massive while the photon remains massless.
Standard Model: The theory describing elementary particles and three of the four known fundamental interactions. It identifies the force carriers and matter particles recognized in particle physics.
Feynman diagram: A diagrammatic representation of terms in perturbative quantum field theory. Internal lines depict exchanged particles in calculations of interactions.