Ligism

Ligism is an artificial force that is carried by ligon particles. This force can be generated to help stabilize hadrons and nuclei that would not normally be stable under the influence of the strong force, allowing for the stable existence of hadrons other than protons and neutrons and nuclei larger than lead-208.

Function
The limited range of the strong force on the quark level makes most hadrons other than protons and neutrons unstable, and the limited lifetime of pions makes atomic nuclei with an atomic mass greater than around 200 unstable.

Ligism can be used to solve both these problems, by acting as an attractive force between quarks to stabilize baryons and other n-matter-only hadrons, and acting as a repulsive force to stabilize mesons and other hadrons containing antimatter, preventing the quarks therein from undergoing annihilation.

Ligism can be introduced to mesons (and therefore nuclei) or baryons using various vector particles. Once introduced, ligism can hold the particles in the system together for immensely long periods of time, often on the order of billions of years. This technique can be used to stabilize substances that would normally be incredibly unstable, such as immensely heavy chemical elements, as well as many types of exotic hadron, including baryons, tetraquarks, pentaquarks and hexaquarks.

Ligism is distinct from equilism, another artificial force used to stabilize unstable fundamental particles, such as heavy quarks and leptons. Equilism is far more difficult to generate than ligism.

Uses
The most common use of ligism could is to stabilize atomic nuclei, from relatively slow-decaying elements such as uranium and plutonium all the way to immensely heavy nuclei such as millium and beyond.

Ligism can also be used to stabilize hadrons, most commonly the delta-baryons used to create delta-substances. Other hadrons such as tetraquarks, pentaquarks, hexaquarks and beyond can also be stabilized, as well as exotic mesons.