In fact, if you ask, “what’s more important to the proton: quarks or gluons,” the answer depends on how you ask it. Here’s what really matters inside a proton.

Although we depict quarks, antiquarks and gluons as having colors or anticolors, this is only an analogy. The actual science is even more fascinating. E. SIEGEL / BEYOND THE GALAXY.

Although they are connected with gluons, quarks differ in that their quantum spin is 1/2, and they have a mass, albeit a tiny one (for example, an 'up' quark has a mass of 2.01 MeV, and a 'down ...

While quarks are particles that combine to form protons and neutrons, gluons act like glue, binding the quarks together. So far, scientists have been studying the atomic nucleus using two models.

If quarks and gluons are entangled with protons, this technique says that should be revealed by the disorder, or "entropy," seen in the sprays of daughter particles.

Similarly, quarks and gluons by themselves carry color charges, and all the hadrons are color-neutral combinations of those quarks and gluons. Everything we see in the world is color neutral. But to ...

Atomic nuclei, composed of protons and neutrons, hide quarks and gluons at their core. These latter particles, still challenging to study, have long eluded scientists. In the mid-20th century, ...

The atomic nucleus is made up of protons and neutrons, particles that exist through the interaction of quarks bonded by gluons. It would seem, therefore, that it should not be difficult to ...

Jentsch: And you get what, originally, we thought was a gas of the quarks and gluons inside. That wasn’t really what we ended up finding.

The atomic nucleus is made up of protons and neutrons, particles that exist through the interaction of quarks bonded by gluons. It would seem, therefore, that it should not be difficult to ...