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Current quark
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<p>Current quarks (also called naked quarks or bare quarks) are a description of <a href="/facts/Valence_quark/mmaanHvp">valence quarks</a> as the cores of the <a href="/facts/Constituent_quark/Lr9lbTI0">quark particles</a> that are the invariable parts of a <a href="/facts/Hadron/C0sd1zty">hadron</a>: their non-virtual ("real" or permanent) quarks with their surrounding "covering" of evanescent gluons and virtual quarks imagined stripped away. In <a href="/facts/Quantum_chromodynamics/3cA2ctyb">quantum chromodynamics</a>, the mass of the <i>current quarks</i> is called the <i>current quark mass</i>, 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 (hence, the data listed below for the light quarks are fraught with caveats). </p><p>The <a href="/facts/Constituent_quark/Lr9lbTI0">constituent quark</a>, in contrast, is a combination of both the "naked" current quark and its "dressing" of evanescent gluons and virtual quarks. For the lighter quarks, the mass of each constituent quark is approximately 1 /3 of the average mass of the <a href="/facts/Proton/clCjepXP">proton</a> and <a href="/facts/Neutron/oRCM1geb">neutron</a>, with a little extra mass fudged in for the <a href="/facts/Strange_quark/VDWd3ky0">strange quark</a>. </p>