Who are Gnomes? What are Gnomes?

The workings of hyper-gnomes is a largely unexplored region of science.  The problem is that to examine a hyper-gnome, you need other hyper/super/standard-gnomestructures (such as a gnome microscope: A Gnome-oscope). Behavioral traits of the gnomes can lead to the initial hyper-gnome being distorted. The gnome will start to show off, trying to be cooler and more interesting than the others around it, losing its natural traits. In other words, we know it's there but when we look for it, it will "disappear". Indeed, when a single hyper-gnome becomes the centre of attention, it has been known for the other hyper-gnomes to gang up on it and destroy it out of jealousy. The gnome-oscopic world of hyper-gnomes is constantly changing. It is therefore impossible to conduct conclusive tests or detailed research into the field of Hyper-gnometics. Much like the inside of a ping-pong ball. You know it's there, you can calculate its area, circumference, and so forth. But... when you cut open the ping-pong ball to have a look, the inside will now be outside... so you can no longer examine it. Where has it gone? has it been relegated back to "outside" or has it just vanished completely? It doesn't matter in the end because the ping-pong ball is actually made of gnomes anyway.