strong nuclear force

"Theoretically, it interacts with gravity, but it has no interaction with the others, weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force or electromagnetic force," Sousa said.

A few have also pursued the axion, a nearly massless particle originally proposed to solve a different problem with the theory of the strong nuclear force.

The Standard Model encompasses four forces: the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force.

The standard model describes how these particles and their antiparticles interact through three forces: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force that binds quarks, and the weak nuclear force that enables quarks and other particles to decay and change type.

It’s currently understood more widely that when fundamental forces of nature began to splinter off from each other during the Big Bang — creating gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force — that splintering was not straightforward, but included some transitional states.