Fundamental Interaction

Fundamental Interaction

In particle physics, fundamental interactions (sometimes called interactive forces or fundamental forces) are the ways that elementary particles interact with one another. An interaction is fundamental when it cannot be described in terms of other interactions. The four known fundamental interactions are electromagnetism, strong interaction ("strong nuclear force"), weak interaction ("weak nuclear force"), and gravitation. All are non-contact forces. With the possible exception of gravitation, these interactions can usually be described in a set of calculational approximation methods known as perturbation theory, as being mediated by the exchange of gauge bosons between particles. However, there are situations where perturbation theory does not adequately describe the observed phenomena, such as bound states and solitons.