Current quark

Constituent quark cores (constituent quarks with no covering) of a valence quark

Current quarks are a description of valence quarks as the cores of the quark particles that are the invariable parts of a hadron: their non-virtual quarks with their surrounding "covering" of evanescent gluons and virtual quarks imagined stripped away. In quantum chromodynamics, the mass of the current quarks is called the current quark mass, as opposed to the much larger mass of the composite particle which is carried in the gluon and virtual-quark covering. The heavier quarks are large enough for their substantial masses to predominate over the combined mass of their virtual-particle "dressing" or covering, but the lighter quarks' masses are overwhelmed by their evanescent covering's mass-energy; the light quarks' core masses are such a small fraction of the covering that the actual mass values are difficult to infer with any accuracy.

This keyword could refer to multiple things. Here are some suggestions: