Yes, gluons can indeed change the flavor of quarks. In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the theory that describes the strong nuclear force, gluons can interact with quarks and change their flavor. This phenomenon is known as gluon-mediated flavor-changing processes.
In the context of flavor-changing interactions, gluons can effectively transform a quark of one flavor into a quark of a different flavor. For example, a gluon can interact with an up quark (u) and an anti-down quark (d̄) and transform them into a down quark (d) and an anti-up quark (ū):
u + d̄ ⟶ d + ū
This process is mediated by the exchange of a gluon, which carries the color charge and interacts with the color charges of the quarks involved.
Flavor-changing interactions involving gluons can occur in various particle interactions, such as in the decay processes of certain mesons. These interactions are a consequence of the strong force dynamics and the specific rules and constraints imposed by QCD.
It's important to note that flavor-changing interactions mediated by gluons are subject to certain conservation laws, such as the conservation of electric charge, baryon number, and lepton number. These conservation laws dictate the specific combinations of quark flavors that are allowed in the final states of such interactions.