The aforementioned W and Z bosons, as well as a far more commonly encountered boson, are responsible for an INTERACTION that is believed to have held sway (i.e. accounted for most "action at a distance") until approximately 1 trillionth of a second into the universe's lifespan. Much, much later, work on its (unification) theory garnered a Nobel Prize for Mssrs. Glashow, Weinberg, and Salam.
Electroweak force