The discussion centers on the origin of mass in hadrons, specifically the role of gluons and the Higgs field. Participants clarify that the majority of the rest mass in hadrons arises from the strong force interactions and energy of the gluon field, rather than from the Higgs mechanism. While the Higgs field imparts mass to quarks, it contributes only about 1% to the total mass of hadrons, with the remaining mass primarily due to binding energy and kinetic energy from quark-gluon interactions. The equivalence principle indicates that inertial mass and gravitational mass are equivalent, reinforcing that hadron mass is predominantly a result of strong interactions.
PREREQUISITESPhysicists, students of particle physics, and anyone interested in the fundamental forces and mass generation in the universe.
michael879 said:Actually it has to do with charge conservation, nothing to do with SU(2) symmetry. Majorana mass terms violate U(1) symmetries if the corresponding fermion couples to that U(1) field