Gauge boson certain atoms. The Standard Model of particle physics recognizes four kinds of gauge bosons: photons, which carry the electromagnetic interaction; W and Z bosons, which carry the weak interaction; and gluons, which carry the strong interaction. Isolated gluons do not occur because they are color-charged and subject to color confinement. In a quantized gauge theory, gauge bosons are quanta of the gauge fields. Consequently, there are as many gauge bosons as there are generators of the gauge field. In quantum electrodynamics, the gauge group is "U"(1); in this simple case, there is only one gauge boson. In quantum chromodynamics, the
Elementary particle one can conclude that most of the visible mass of the universe consists of protons and neutrons, which, like all baryons, in turn consist of up quarks and down quarks. Some estimates imply that there are roughly baryons (almost entirely protons and neutrons) in the observable universe. The number of protons in the observable universe is called the Eddington number. In terms of number of particles, some estimates imply that nearly all the matter, excluding dark matter, occurs in neutrinos, and that roughly elementary particles of matter exist in the visible universe, mostly neutrinos. Other estimates imply that roughly elementary