Video Transcript
Which of the following symbols
represents a gluon? Uppercase G, lowercase 𝛾,
uppercase 𝛤, lowercase g, lowercase y.
Okay, to answer this question, we
can be helped by remembering that a gluon is part of a class of particles called
bosons. Specifically, it’s one of the four
bosons that are known as force carriers. These are bosons that particles
exchange so that forces can be experienced between the particles. The force carrier bosons are the
photon, the gluon, the W boson, and the Z boson.
We want to know which of these five
symbols is typically used to represent the gluon. A photon, we know, is represented
by the symbol 𝛾. And so we can cross off option (B)
on our list. The W boson consists of a particle
and antiparticle pair represented with a capital W and a plus and a minus sign
superscript. And a Z boson is represented by a
capital Z with a zero superscript. None of these last three symbols
appear on our list. So we’re not able to cancel out any
more options.
To answer this question, we’ll
simply need to recall that a gluon is represented by a lowercase g. We do see that symbol on our list
as option (D). And so our answer is that a
lowercase g is the symbol that represents a gluon.
