The Astonishing Standard Model

Over the years I have written a great deal about the Standard Model of particle physics, the concepts and equations used by particle physicists to describe the particles and forces of nature. On this page, I’ve tried to collect some of my most important articles about it.

To start with,

• here are the basic particles and forces of the Standard Model
• here are some more facts about its various types of forces
• here is some general discussion/FAQ concerning the Higgs field, the cornerstone of the whole structure
  • some more details about the Higgs field
  • with some more technical discussion of how it does its job
    • (even more technical here)

Also, I have written a series of articles celebrating key features of the Standard Model, and using those as a springboard to dig more deeply into its details. I’ll keep adding to it.

• Celebrating the Standard Model: The Forces of Nature
  • The Standard Model More Deeply: Masses, Lifetimes and Forces
• Celebrating the Standard Model: Seeing in Triplicate
  • The Standard Model More Deeply: The Electron and its Cousins (Part 1)
  • The Standard Model More Deeply: The Electron and its Cousins (Part 2)
• Celebrating the Standard Model: Why Are Neutrino Masses So Small?
  • The Standard Model More Deeply: The Nature of Neutrinos
• Celebrating the Standard Model: The Electric Charges of Quarks
• Celebrating the Standard Model: Checking The Electric Charges of Quarks
  • The Standard Model More Deeply: Lessons on the Strong Nuclear Force from Quark Electric Charges
• Celebrating the Standard Model: How We Know Quarks Come in Three “Colors”
  • The Standard Model More Deeply: The Simplified Math of Quark “Color”
  • The Standard Model More Deeply: Gluons and the Math of Quark “Color”
• Celebrating the Standard Model: Atoms, Quarks and the Strong Nuclear Force
• Celebrating the Standard Model: The Twins We’re Made Of
  • The Standard Model More Deeply: How the Proton is Greater than the Sum of its Parts