quarks

Cultural  

1. In physics, the elementary particles that make up the protons and neutrons that in turn make up the atomic nucleus. Quarks are the most basic known constituent of matter. (See antimatter.)

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No quarks have been seen in the laboratory because, according to current theory, they cannot exist as free particles.

Example Sentences

High energy proton collisions can be pictured as a roiling sea of quarks and gluons, including short lived virtual particles.

From Science Daily

By doing so, researchers aim to recreate the universe's earliest moments and learn how a hot mixture of quarks and gluons eventually formed stable atomic nuclei and, ultimately, all matter.

From Science Daily

"Unlike quarks, which can interact with the plasma, these leptons pass through it largely unscathed, carrying undistorted information about their environment."

From Science Daily

This new view of entanglement among quarks and gluons adds a layer of complexity to an evolving picture of protons' inner structure.

From Science Daily

Their approach attempts to illuminate a cosmological constant as well as the properties of leptons and quarks.

From Salon