What is Gluon: Definition and 69 Discussions

A gluon () is an elementary particle that acts as the exchange particle (or gauge boson) for the strong force between quarks. It is analogous to the exchange of photons in the electromagnetic force between two charged particles. In layman's terms, they "glue" quarks together, forming hadrons such as protons and neutrons.
In technical terms, gluons are vector gauge bosons that mediate strong interactions of quarks in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Gluons themselves carry the color charge of the strong interaction. This is unlike the photon, which mediates the electromagnetic interaction but lacks an electric charge. Gluons therefore participate in the strong interaction in addition to mediating it, making QCD significantly harder to analyze than quantum electrodynamics (QED).

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  1. E

    Unraveling the Mystery of the Gluon's Wave Function

    Hi there, I have question about a gluon's wave function. First of all, I thought it is just the vector potential A_\mu but I read several papers and they keep referring to the helicity \epsilon_\mu as the wave function. At least this is what I understand from the context. See for instance...
  2. O

    Radiation of gluon jets - Peskin final project question

    Hello, this is the first time I post here, so if this is not in the correct section please let me know... I'm working on solving the first final project in peskin - Radiation of gluon jets. In this project we assume a simplified model for the gluon - it is a massive vector boson (with a...
  3. C

    Gluon Contribution to Baryon Mass

    I am confused as to how the mass equivalence of the the 3 gluons in at nucleon can give rise to an increase in the baryon's rest mass. I can see how the mass equivalence of the energy contained in the gluons interaction can be added to the the amount of gravitational field generated by the...
  4. D

    Calculate Range of Strong Nuclear Force with Gluon Energy

    I'm currently doing a physics project on fusion for my A2, and need to show how to work out the range of the strong nuclear force. So far I've got this delta E*delta t > h/(4*Pi) (h = Plancks constant, E = exchange particle energy and t = time.) Multiply time by c to get the range...
  5. L

    What is the Gluon Condensate in SI Units?

    What is the currently accepted value for the gluon condensate? How much different is from SVZ value? I would appreciate any reference, mostly from experiments. Jon
  6. K

    Gluon radiation Feynman diagram

    can someone please explain the attached picture to me? if the electron and positron are just annihilating each other shouldn't the positron be going the other way? and shouldn't the antiquark be going the other way too? and what's up w/ the ->t thing at the bottom?
  7. N

    Where EXACTLY is the Mass of an Atom? Proton? Quark? Hadron? Gluon?

    Where EXACTLY is the "Mass" of an Atom? Proton? Quark? Hadron? Gluon?? Just look at the simplest Hydrogen atom -- one Proton. The question is *where* exactly is the mass of this thing? Or *what* makes up the mass of this thing? Is it just Quarks? So where is the *mass* of those things? Where is...
  8. G

    Quark Gluon Plasma - Exploring Uses and Effects

    Hi: Quark gluon plasma is created at very high temperature, right?. Could you please explain me what happens to Quark gluon plasma after it is cooled?, is it possible to use quark gluon plasma to create nucleons? Thanks
  9. S

    Uncovering the Missing Gluon: The Mystery of 8 Gluons in SU(3)

    I know that it is a common question to wonder why there are only 8 gluons, so I am sorry for bringing it up again. I have been reading a lot lately about SU(3) and Hermitian Matrices with trace 0, and basically everything seems to make sense, that is except for one item. Despite seeing logic...
  10. F

    Searching for Gluon Radiation Probability Equation for Z Decay Jet Structure

    Hi I am searching for the equation for the radiation probability of a gluon from a quark. I need this for an explanation of the jet structure after a Z decay. Because I heard that hard gluons are radiated with small angles to the quark. This means the energy is focused in the directions of the...
  11. humanino

    Searches for Quark Gluon Plasma and Color Glass Condensate

    Dear PFers, could somebody provide an update on the searches for quark gluon plasma, the color glass condensate interpretation, and/or their conceptual basis ? I have found a few big documents, if somebody knows where to find the latest review it would be most welcome. I would like a preview...
  12. G

    Graviton vs Gluon Ball: Can Graviton Replace Gluon?

    Can graviton possible act like gluon ball? Why not?
  13. E

    Q&A: Understanding Quark Gluon Plasma

    I'm having a problem understanding QGP. Hadrons are bound states of quarks which interact by interchanging colour. Now, as I understood we haven't observed free quarks because the force rises by distance and that force is really strong. As I read in QGP quarks and gluons are not bound, you can't...
  14. L

    Gluon propagator in the infrared

    I have read some recent preprints in arxiv recently: http://arxiv.org/abs/0709.2042 http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.3260 http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0610148 about the behavior of the gluon propagator in the infrared. Recent lattice computations seem to support them (e.g...
  15. B

    How to prove gluon has this quantum number assignment?

    [URGENT]How to prove gluon has this quantum number assignment? From PDG booklet, for gluon, I^G(J^{PC}) = 0(1^-). My questions are: 1. How to prove its P=-1? 2. Why C parity and therefore G parity are not well-defined for a gluon? Is it because gluon have nothing to do with...
  16. P

    Mass in things like gluon fields

    what sort of equations are specific to this, and could they be explained for me? I am jumping from one place tot he next in my learning of these sort of things, as i have honestly never taken a physics class. i still have a fairly in depth knowledge of the relativity, lorentz's ideas of it, some...
  17. S

    Gluon Colour Shift: Research Project Idea

    I had a thought the other day - following from general relativity, a photon experiences a gravitational red shift in frequency. Searching for a research project, I toyed with the idea of a chromodynamic red shift if a photon were to pass through a strong field. However, since the photon has no...
  18. T

    Properties of the Gluon: Spin, Mass and Size

    what particle holds the strong force? and what's its spin, mass and size?. (i need an answer with a refrence to a article or book for my research paper)
  19. M

    Gluons: Rest Mass & Experimental Evidence

    As I understand it, gluons have no rest mass. In answering my previous question, particles consisting of gluons without quarks were described. Do these particles have any rest mass or do they go at the speed of light? What sort of experimental evidence is there for whatever happens?
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