Knowra Strong interaction Strong interaction The fundamental interaction described by quantum chromodynamics that confines quarks inside hadrons and indirectly binds protons and neutrons inside atomic nuclei.
Quantum chromodynamics : The quantum field theory of quarks and gluons, describing their strong interaction through color charge. It is the theory that mathematically describes this interaction.
Quark : An elementary fermion carrying color charge and fractional electric charge, forming hadrons with other quarks. Quarks are the matter particles directly acted on by the interaction.
Deep inelastic scattering : High-energy scattering of electrons or other leptons from hadrons that probes their internal structure. Its results revealed point-like constituents inside protons and tested quark dynamics.
Electromagnetic interaction : The fundamental interaction between electrically charged particles, mediated by photons. Unlike electromagnetism, the strong interaction acts on color charge and confines its carriers.
Color charge : The strong-interaction charge carried by quarks and gluons, with three types conventionally called red, green, and blue. Color charge determines how quarks and gluons couple to the interaction.
Hadron : A composite particle bound by the strong interaction, made from quarks and gluons. Hadrons are the confined states in which quarks are observed.
Jet (particle physics) : A narrow spray of hadrons produced when a high-energy quark or gluon fragments and hadronizes. Jets make otherwise unseen quarks and gluons detectable through their interaction products.
Weak interaction : The fundamental interaction responsible for processes such as beta decay, mediated by W and Z bosons. It changes particle flavor rather than binding quarks into hadrons.
Gluon : The massless gauge boson of quantum chromodynamics that carries the strong interaction and itself carries color charge. Gluons transmit the interaction and interact with one another.
Proton : A positively charged baryon composed principally of two up quarks and one down quark, bound by the strong interaction. Its internal quarks are bound by the fundamental interaction.
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