AFTER decades of trying, physicists have used the theory of the strong nuclear force to correctly predict the mass of a particle. The powerful computer method used to solve the theory’s staggeringly difficult equations could now help discover new particles and even challenge the standard model of particle physics.
Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory that models the strong force, which binds quarks into protons, neutrons and other heavy particles. In most cases the equations of QCD are intractable – even for simple particles called mesons, made from just two quarks.
Physicists attempt approximate solutions by slicing up space and time…
