Fundamental Particle Simulation

A real-time, GPU-accelerated physics simulation of fundamental particles (quarks and electrons) interacting via the four fundamental forces. This project aims to visualize the emergence of complex structures—from hadronization (quarks forming protons/neutrons) to the formation of atomic nuclei and electron shells.

🌟 Features

⚛️ Physics Engine

• GPU-Accelerated N-Body Simulation: Handles thousands of particles using wgpu compute shaders.
• Fundamental Forces:
  • Strong Force: Modeled with Color Charge dynamics and a Cornell potential (confinement + short-range freedom). Quarks dynamically bind into Baryons (Protons/Neutrons) and Mesons.
  • Electromagnetism: Coulomb interaction driving electron orbits and proton repulsion.
  • Weak Force: Short-range Yukawa potential.
  • Gravity: Standard Newtonian attraction.
• Nucleon Physics:
  • Residual Strong Force: An effective Yukawa potential binds protons and neutrons into atomic nuclei.
  • Hadron Exclusion: Hard-sphere repulsion prevents nucleons from merging into amorphous blobs.
  • Atomic Locking: Ensures quarks are strictly assigned to unique hadrons.
• Electron Dynamics:
  • Pauli-like Exclusion: A repulsive force prevents electrons from collapsing into the nucleus, stabilizing atomic orbitals.

🎨 Visualization

• 3D Rendering: Instanced rendering for high-performance particle visualization.
• Hadron Shells: Semi-transparent shells visualize the bounds of formed protons and neutrons.
• Internal Bonds: Dynamic lines show the strong force connections between quarks.
• Real-time UI: Built with astra-gui for interactive control.

🎮 Controls

Camera

• Right Mouse Button + Drag: Rotate camera around the center.
• Mouse Wheel: Zoom in/out.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Space: Pause / Resume simulation.
• Ctrl + Right Arrow / D: Step forward (when paused).

GUI Controls

The on-screen interface allows real-time tuning of the simulation:

• Time Controls: Pause, resume, and step through the simulation frame-by-frame.
• Physics Parameters: Tweak the strength and range of all forces (Gravity, Electric, Strong, Nucleon Binding, etc.) on the fly.
• Rendering Options: Toggle the visibility of hadron shells and bonds.

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust: Latest stable version.
• Vulkan/Metal/DX12: A GPU compatible with wgpu.

Running

cargo run --release

Note: Release mode is highly recommended for performance.

🧠 Physics Model Details

1. Quark Confinement: Quarks carry Red, Green, or Blue color charge. The simulation enforces color neutrality, causing quarks to group into triplets (Baryons) or pairs (Mesons).
2. Nucleus Formation: Once hadrons form, a secondary "Residual Strong Force" kicks in. This short-range attractive force overcomes the electromagnetic repulsion between protons, allowing stable nuclei to form.
3. Stability: To prevent the simulation from exploding due to high-energy collisions, we implement velocity-dependent damping specifically for nucleon interactions, allowing them to settle into stable bound states.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Language: Rust
• Graphics API: wgpu (WebGPU)
• UI: astra-gui
• Math: glam