A Feynman diagram of a strong proton-neutron interaction mediated by a neutral pion with the individual quark constituents shown, to illustrate how the fundamental strong interaction gives rise to the nuclear force. Straight lines are quarks, while multi-colored loops are gluons (the carriers of the fundamental force). Other gluons, which bind together the proton, neutron, and pion in-flight, are not shown.

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A Feynman diagram of a strong proton-neutron interaction mediated by a neutral pion with the individual quark constituents shown, to illustrate how the fundamental strong interaction gives rise to the nuclear force. Straight lines are quarks, while multi-colored loops are gluons (the carriers of the fundamental force). Other gluons, which bind together the proton, neutron, and pion in-flight, are not shown.



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