Editing Yang–Mills theory (section)

{{Short description|Quantum field theory}}
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
{{unsolved|physics|Yang–Mills theory and the mass gap. Quantum particles described by the theory have mass but the classical waves of the field travel at the speed of light.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yang-Mills & The Mass Gap |url=https://www.claymath.org/millennium/yang-mills-the-maths-gap/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Clay Mathematics Institute |language=en-US}}</ref>}}
{{Quantum field theory}}
'''Yang–Mills theory''' is a quantum field theory for nuclear binding devised by [[Chen Ning Yang]] and [[Robert Mills (physicist)|Robert Mills]] in 1953, as well as a generic term for the class of similar theories. The Yang–Mills theory is a [[gauge theory]] based on a [[special unitary group]] {{math|SU(''n'')}}, or more generally any [[compact Lie group]]. A Yang–Mills theory seeks to describe the behavior of elementary particles using these [[non-abelian group|non-abelian]] [[Lie group]]s and is at the core of the unification of the [[electromagnetic force]] and [[weak force]]s (i.e. {{math|U(1) × SU(2)}}) as well as [[quantum chromodynamics]], the theory of the [[strong force]] (based on {{math|SU(3)}}). Thus it forms the basis of the understanding of the [[Standard Model]] of particle physics.