What is "topcolor"

alt. (context physics English) A proposed model of fundamental particle physics involving condensation between top quarks and antitop quarks n. (context physics English) A proposed model of fundamental particle physics involving condensation between top quarks and antitop quarks

In theoretical physics, Topcolor is a model of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking in which the top quark and anti-top quark form a top quark condensate and act effectively like the Higgs boson. This is analogous to the phenomenon of superconductivity.

Topcolor naturally involves an extension of the standard model color gauge group to a product group SU(3)xSU(3)xSU(3)x... One of the gauge groups contains the top and bottom quarks, and has a sufficiently large coupling constant to cause the condensate to form. The topcolor model thus anticipates the idea of dimensional deconstruction and extra space dimensions, as well as the large mass of the top quark. Topcolor, and its prediction of topgluons, will be tested in coming experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Topcolor rescues the Technicolor model from some of its difficulties in a scheme dubbed "Topcolor-assisted Technicolor."