color confinement
Quarks cannot escape
Color confinement is the principle in particle physics that quarks and gluons—particles carrying "color charge"—cannot exist in isolation.
They are permanently bound inside composite particles like protons and neutrons.
The force between them grows stronger with distance, so pulling quarks apart requires enough energy to create new particles rather than freeing the originals.
Color confinement explains why we never observe free quarks in nature.
- quarksFundamental hadron components
- gluonsStrong force exchange particles
- hadronsQuark-containing composite particles
- strong forceSubatomic binding interaction
- protonsPositive nuclear particles
neutrons · lattice · jets · vacuum · gauge · infrared · running coupling · chiral · plasma · bags · screening · glue