---

The Dependence of Electric Charge and Color Charge

By Zhang Suhang, Luoyang, Henan

Neither electric charge nor color charge can exist alone as an independent entity; they can only manifest by relying on structured forms of energy.

Freely observable electric charge necessarily depends on particle structures that possess rest mass. The electron is a typical example: it possesses both rest mass and electric charge. When an electron and a positron annihilate, the structured form disintegrates, and the charge disappears with it.

The case of color charge is different: quarks carry color charge and possess rest mass; although gluons carry color charge, they themselves have no rest mass. However, gluons are confined and cannot detach from the strong-interaction structure to manifest color charge independently outward.

Electric charge and color charge can be separated from each other, each depending on different structured forms. The electron carries electric charge but no color charge; the gluon carries color charge but no electric charge. Whether charge manifests alone or color charge manifests alone, neither can drift independently apart from the higher-order structure of energy.

Unlike electric charge and color charge, mass can manifest alone, apart from electric charge and color charge. The Higgs boson is one example: it possesses rest mass but carries neither electric charge nor color charge. Mass is likewise a property of higher-order structured forms of energy, but it does not need to arise together with electric charge and color charge.

It can thus be seen that, in the hierarchical sequence of this framework, mass manifests prior to electric charge and color charge. Electric charge and color charge are derivative properties that manifest only after further complication. The Higgs boson possesses only mass and carries no electric charge or color charge; quarks, by contrast, possess mass, electric charge, and color charge simultaneously, and their structural level is more complex. But possessing mass itself still belongs to a higher-order structured form of energy. Compared with structureless, diffuse lower-order energy such as photons, it still requires completing an energy-level upgrade under field constraints in order to be generated.

This line of thought can provide a qualitative interpretation of dark matter. Dark matter is inferred to manifest mainly through gravitational effects; it carries no electric charge or color charge, and has no electromagnetic interaction. Most existing human detection instruments are built around electromagnetic effects, so it is very difficult to directly detect dark matter.

Under this framework, dark matter belongs to a higher-order energy form that has formed only a basic mass structure and has not superimposed the derivative properties of electric charge and color charge. It lacks an electromagnetic interaction channel and finds it difficult to interact directly with ordinary matter; therefore, it has long existed in a hidden form.

It can thus be seen that electric charge and color charge are properties derived from higher-order structures of energy, not independent material units. Only when energy forms a specific constrained structure do such intrinsic properties appear; once the higher-order structure disintegrates, electric charge and color charge disappear with it, and energy returns to a diffuse lower-order form. This law is interconnected with “The Hierarchical Laws of Energy, Mass, Charge, and Color Charge.”

---