• Question: What are gravitons and glutons?

    Asked by Nintega21 to Deborah, Euan, Maheen, Rob, Stu on 20 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Euan Allen

      Euan Allen answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Hi Nintega21 – tough question (but I like it)!

      There are 4 fundamental forces that we know exist in the universe: gravity, electromagnetism (light), and two nuclear forces that we call the strong and the weak force. These are predicted by our theories of particle physics.

      We expect each of the forces to be carried by some particles in order to send the force from one place to another. Photons, which you may have heard of, are the particles for electromagnetism and the weak force. Gravitons are the particles we predict to exist for gravity (we’ve never actually seen these), and gluons are the particles that transmit the strong force.

      These are the kind of particles that we are looking at/trying to find at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

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