The Proton, the 'Most Complicated Thing You Could Possibly Imagine'

(quantamagazine.org)

40 points | by tzury 7 hours ago ago

7 comments

  • stevenjgarner 2 hours ago ago

    > The results suggested that in even higher-energy collisions, the proton would appear as a cloud made up almost entirely of gluons. The gluon dandelion is exactly what QCD predicts.

    I find the proton as a gluon dandelion cloud enthralling

  • zahlman 2 hours ago ago

    The implication of this framing is that neutrons are considerably simpler.

    I find that rather surprising.

    • ephimetheus an hour ago ago

      Neutrons are just as complex, they’re much harder to study though.

    • tsimionescu an hour ago ago

      I don't expect that to be the case, it's likely that the article simply focuses on the proton.

  • m101 an hour ago ago

    > But decades of research have revealed a deeper truth

    Truth is a strange thing in science. In normal language people would say “our latest interpretation”. Science would be more honest if it used language honestly.

    • ephimetheus an hour ago ago

      I get what you’re saying, but the measurements are real. In some sense they are the truth.

      In the article this refers to the finding that the quark is more complex than three valence quarks.

      The measurements indicating that the three-quark-model is incomplete are overwhelmingly conclusive, so some degree of certainty in the language is warranted in my view.

    • venturecruelty an hour ago ago

      Not sure what this has to do with the article, it just seems like a nitpick. What did science do to you?