Feynman diagrams – Quanta Magazine

How to Tame the Endless Infinities Hiding in the Heart of Particle Physics

Charlie Wood — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 14:30:04 +0000

The secret to fixing a fatal flaw at the heart of quantum theory may lie in three obscure textbooks from the 1980s. But physicists can be forgiven for overlooking the potentially transformative ideas within, as the volumes appear simultaneously amateurish and intimidating. The few physical copies that exist of Jean Écalle’s magnum opus look like little more than glorified photocopies.

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The Mathematical Structure of Particle Collisions Comes Into View

Charlie Wood — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 15:00:32 +0000

When particle physicists try to model experiments, they confront an impossible calculation — an infinitely long equation that lies beyond the reach of modern mathematics. Fortunately, they can generate largely accurate predictions without seeing this arcane math all the way through. By cutting the calculation short, scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Europe make forecasts that match...

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How Feynman Diagrams Revolutionized Physics

Thomas Lin — Tue, 14 May 2019 13:55:00 +0000

As one of the most famous physicists of the 20th century, Richard Feynman was known for a lot. Early in his career, he contributed to the development of the first atomic bomb as a group leader of the Manhattan Project. Hans Bethe, the scientific leader of the project who won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967 (two years after Feynman did), has been quoted on what set his protégé apart: “There are...

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Quantum Questions Inspire New Math

Robbert Dijkgraaf — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 14:03:57 +0000

Mathematics might be more of an environmental science than we realize. Even though it is a search for eternal truths, many mathematical concepts trace their origins to everyday experience. Astrology and architecture inspired Egyptians and Babylonians to develop geometry. The study of mechanics during the scientific revolution of the 17th century brought us calculus. Remarkably...

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The Math That’s Too Difficult for Physics

Kevin Hartnett — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 15:10:43 +0000

It’s one thing to smash protons together. It’s another to make scientific sense of the debris that’s left behind. This is the situation at CERN, the laboratory that houses the Large Hadron Collider, the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world. In order to understand all the data produced by the collisions there, experimental physicists and theoretical physicists engage in a...

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