Two ways of approximating the ultra-complicated math that governs quark particles have recently come into conflict, leaving physicists unsure what their decades-old theory predicts.
Key Takeaways:
- A million-dollar math prize awaits anyone who can solve the type of equation used in QCD to show how massive entities like protons form.
- Some infer quark activity experimentally at particle colliders, while others harness the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
- Evidence piled up over the decades that gluons exist and act as predicted in certain circumstances.
“Three particles called quarks ricochet back and forth at nearly the speed of light, snapped back by interconnected strings of particles called gluons.”
