Quantum chromodynamics possess an additional SU(3) gauge degree of freedom, later called color charge. Han and Nambu noted that quarks might interact via an octet of vector gauge bosons: the gluons. Since free quark searches consistently failed to turn up any evidence for the new particles, and because an elementary particle back then was "defined" as a particle which could be separated and isolated, Gell-Mann often said that quarks were merely convenient mathematical constructs, not real particles. The meaning of this statement was usually clear in context: He meant quarks are confined, but he also was implying that the strong interactions could
W and Z bosons particles, starting with and , all denote quarks and antiquarks (factor "N" is applied). The various "V" denote the corresponding CKM matrix coefficients. Unitarity of the CKM matrix implies that Z bosons decay into a fermion and its antiparticle. As the Z boson is a mixture of the pre-symmetry-breaking W and B bosons (see weak mixing angle), each vertex factor includes a factor "T" − "Q" sin"θ" where "T" is the third component of the weak isospin of the fermion, "Q "is the electric charge of the fermion (in units of the elementary charge), and "θ" is the weak mixing