Quantum chromodynamics binding energy


Quantum chromodynamic binding energy, gluon binding energy or chromodynamic binding energy is the energy binding quarks together into hadrons. It is the energy of the field of the strong force, which is mediated by gluons. Motion-energy and interaction-energy contribute most of the hadron's mass.

Gluon energy

While gluons are massless, they still possess energy – chromodynamic binding energy. In this way, they are similar to photons, which are also massless particles carrying energy – photon energy. The amount of energy per single gluon, or "gluon energy", cannot be calculated. Unlike photon energy, which is quantifiable, described by the Planck-Einstein relation and depends on a single variable, no formula exists for the quantity of energy carried by each gluon. While the effects of a single photon can be observed, single gluons have not been observed outside of a hadron. Due to the mathematical complexity of quantum chromodynamics and the somewhat chaotic structure of hadrons, which are composed of gluons, valence quarks, sea quarks and other virtual particles, it is not even measurable how many gluons exist at a given moment inside a hadron. Additionally, not all of the QCD binding energy is gluon energy, but rather, some of it comes from the kinetic energy of the hadron's constituents. Therefore, only the total QCD binding energy per hadron can be stated. However, in the future, studies into quark-gluon plasma might be able to overcome this.