gluon

Definition

A massless gauge boson that binds quarks together to form baryons, mesons and other hadrons and is associated with the strong nuclear force.

Etymology

From glue + -on. From being a particle (suffix "-on") that "glues" (attracts) together particles that feel the force carried by the gluon. Coined by American physicist Murray Gell-Mann in 1962.

Example Sentences

• "Naive realism might ask today: Tell me what space is in itself, not in terms of other things. Tell me what a gluon is at bottom, or a neutrino, or a charge."
• "The so-called spin crisis has had important effects beyond simply confronting theorists with a particularly sharp challenge to their incomplete understanding of quantum chromodynamics, the underlying field theory of quarks and the gluons that mediate their strong interactions."
• "Lattice QCD explores the particle realm by taking a different tack. It simulates quark and gluon behaviors by applying the full QCD theory to a tiny grid like facsimile of the space-time in which particles actually interact."