Quantum chromodynamics observed particles make isospin and SU(3) multiplets. The approximate flavor symmetries do have associated gauge bosons, observed particles like the rho and the omega, but these particles are nothing like the gluons and they are not massless. They are emergent gauge bosons in an approximate string description of QCD. The dynamics of the quarks and gluons are controlled by the quantum chromodynamics Lagrangian. The gauge invariant QCD Lagrangian is where formula_1 is the quark field, a dynamical function of spacetime, in the fundamental representation of the SU(3) gauge group, indexed by formula_2; formula_3 is the gauge covariant derivative; the γ
Atom In the Standard Model of physics, electrons are truly elementary particles with no internal structure. However, both protons and neutrons are composite particles composed of elementary particles called quarks. There are two types of quarks in atoms, each having a fractional electric charge. Protons are composed of two up quarks (each with charge +) and one down quark (with a charge of −). Neutrons consist of one up quark and two down quarks. This distinction accounts for the difference in mass and charge between the two particles. The quarks are held together by the strong interaction (or strong force), which