Quark

:For other uses of this term, see: Quark (disambiguation)

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Quarks are one of the two basic constituents of matter in the Standard Model of particle physics. (The others are leptons.) Antiparticles of quarks are called antiquarks. Quarks and antiquarks are the only fundamental particles which interact through all four of the fundamental forces.

Related Topics:
Matter - Standard Model - Particle physics - Lepton - Antiparticle - Fundamental particles - Fundamental force

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The single most important property of quarks is called confinement. This is the experimental fact that individual quarks are not seen ? they are always confined inside hadrons, subatomic particles like protons, neutrons, and mesons. This fundamental property is expected to follow from the modern theory of strong interactions, called quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Although there is no mathematical derivation of confinement in QCD, it is easy to show using lattice gauge theory.

Related Topics:
Confinement - Hadron - Subatomic particle - Proton - Neutron - Meson - Strong interaction - Quantum chromodynamics - Lattice gauge theory

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