Gluon (QCD) dilemma?

Question

On the subject of Gluons, Color is a conserved quantity. Also, there are 9 possible combinations of Color-Anticolor Charge. There should then be 9 different Gluon charges, but there are only 8. How is this possible?

Answer 1

Tough one. You have to think about the maths of SU(3). It comes down to the way SU(3) matrices operate. Have a look at the links in the sources.