Color charge

In particle physics, color charge is a property of quarks and gluons which are related to their strong interactions in the context of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). This has analogies with the notion of electric charge of particles, but because of the mathematical complications of QCD, there are many technical differences. The "color" of quarks and gluons have nothing to do with the visual perception of color, but is a whimsical name for a property which has almost no manifestation at distances above the size of an atomic nucleus.

References

• Howard Georgi, Lie algebras in particle physics, (1999) Perseus Books Group, ISBN 0738202339.
• David J. Griffiths, Introduction to Elementary Particles, (1987) John Wiley & Sons, New York ISBN 0471603864
• J. Richard Christman, Color and Charm, (2001) Project PHYSNET document MISN-0-283.