According to David Griffiths' Introduction to Elementary Particles, the ("chromo-electrostatic") color-potential, between two quarks, is often modeled using Hooke's Law (F = - k x). And, according to Michael Creutz's Quarks, Gluons and Lattices (pg. 3):

 

In attempting to extract a single quark, from a proton, one would draw out a long, skinny bag, carrying the gluo-electric flux, of the quark, back to the remaining constituents.

If the Flux Lines are conserved, would the "bag of gluo-electric flux", which squeezes down when stretched, but pancakes out when compressed, generate a Hooke's Law force ?? (This simple picture does not account for the powerful "chromo-magnetism" force, which Griffiths also discusses, separately.)

 

Edited September 1, 201015 yr by Widdekind

David Griffiths' Intro. to Elem. Particles (pp. 180,192) shows that the Color Force is modulated by a spin-spin splitting, proportional to roughly [math]150 MeV / \hbar[/math] in mesons, and [math]50 MeV / \hbar[/math] in baryons. It is not clear to me, whether this is an electro-magnetic, or chromo-magnetic interaction. The ratio appears to be about 3:1, and their is only 1 pair in a meson, and 3 pairs in baryons (???).