A quark (from within a proton) and an antiquark (from an antiproton) colliding at high energy can annihilate to produce a top quark and a top antiquark, which then decay into other particles.
Frames 2 and 3 show the annihilation into virtual gluons. In frame 4, a top quark and a top antiquark emerge from the gluon cloud. In frame 5 they begin moving apart, stretching the color force field (gluon field) between them.
The intermediate stages of this process occur in less than 10 to the power (-26) of a second (about a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second), and are not observable.
You can also see this as an ANIMATION if you are using Netscape. Depending on where you are and the time of day this could be very slow.
