Quarks and Gluons A Century of Particle Charges

Author: MYHan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-10-01
Features:
An Oor journey in search of the origin of matter—and by extension the origin of the Universe itself—has taken us deeper and deeper inside atoms. First to come into view was the atom, then the nucleus. At least for three decades, nucleons were considered to be our final destination. Then, peering into them, we detected shadows of yet another layer of matter that lurks inside. Unable to far crack open a nucleon and bring out one of these shadowy objects for observation and measurement, we can only guess what they are. We have named them quarks. We believe that two types of quarks—one named “up” and the other “down”——make up the proton and the neutron. Quarks are held together by a force dubbed the chromoforce, represented by particles named gluons, which are just as sun seen as quarks. So it is the quarks and gluons that lie at the bottom of all known matter!