Gauge boson more complicated group "SU"(3) has eight generators, corresponding to the eight gluons. The three W and Z bosons correspond (roughly) to the three generators of "SU"(2) in GWS theory. For technical reasons involving gauge invariance, gauge bosons are described mathematically by field equations for massless particles. Therefore, at a naïve theoretical level, all gauge bosons are required to be massless, and the forces that they describe are required to be long-ranged. The conflict between this idea and experimental evidence that the weak and strong interactions have a very short range requires further theoretical insight. According to the Standard Model, the
Elementary particle general relativity. There may be hypothetical elementary particles not described by the Standard Model, such as the graviton, the particle that would carry the gravitational force, and sparticles, supersymmetric partners of the ordinary particles. The 12 fundamental fermions are divided into 3 generations of 4 particles each. Half of the fermions are leptons, three of which have an electric charge of −1, called the electron (), the muon (), and the tau (), the other three leptons are neutrinos (, , ), which are the only elementary fermions with no electric or color charge. The remaining six particles are quarks