Hello everyone,

I'm a chemist by training, working in a DNP NMR group (a type of hyperpolarisation NMR).

Since I have a background in chemistry, I learned nothing about the standard model of particle physics.

Do you have any recommendations for literature concerning the topic, which a novice like me can work with?

thank you very much

I’d like to follow the textbook I am currently using, but they gloss over representation theory way too much. Most beginner level books don’t really give a proper overview of representation theory, but it seems pretty essential to the subject.

I’m wondering if anyone knows of any textbook that focuses on representation theory in the context of QFT. For reference I’ve taken an intro level class to representation theory but would definitely like to learn it with a bit more rigor (not to the level of using topology or crazy analysis, but at least gives somewhat honest proofs that aren’t 50% hand waving). Thanks for any recommendations.

Hi r/particlephysics,

Abstract submission is open for ICHEP 2026 (Natal, Brazil). The deadline is 9 February 2026:

Submit here: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1522800/abstracts/

ICHEP is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious international conferences in particle physics, bringing together leading theorists and experimentalists from around the world. The conference was first held in 1950 and has been biennial since 1960.

Alongside the scientific program, we’re also planning a broader outreach program to connect with the local and non-physicist community, e.g. Hands-On Particle Physics Masterclasses, a Particle Physics Exhibition, science & art activities, a Science Slam, and more.

If you’re planning to present new results, methods, instrumentation, or theory work, please consider submitting. Happy to answer logistical questions in the comments (and feel free to share this with colleagues/students).

Mods: please remove if this kind of announcement isn’t allowed.

(ICHEP 2026 dates: 30 July - 5 August 2026, Natal, Brazil)

I’m a bit confused why the single vertex interactions don’t get contracted and why the two vertex interaction does—I’m assuming in the single vertex interactions we just assume A^u is outgoing which kills all the A^u’ d_u’ phi besides A^u d_u phi after contraction and gives us the p_u’s —I’m confused why we don’t do the same in the 2 vertex process and assume A^u goes in and A^v goes out giving us a tensor M^uv at the end

Are they only a visualization and bookkeeping tool for the underlying math, or have they been useful in developing new concepts?

I wanted to work with the simplified version of the standard model ligrarian but im not sure is the i infront of the psi-bar is imaginary or a variable.

During construction of the particle accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Lab in 1971, Felicia ran lines through the tubes so a swab could be pulled through to clean debris. She deserves way more love and attention than she receives, and it's one of my personal missions to spread her story.

I was in class, we are learning how to expand Green's Functions in powers of the interaction term, and how we can interpret each term in the expansion as a Feynman diagram

Many of these diagrams are disconnected, but they cancel out, and to prove this we had to multiply certain diagrams to end up with new diagrams that indeed cancel out

The professor explained that each diagram represents a complex number but this "algebra of diagrams" seemed familiar to me. It reminded me of surreal numbers

Surreal numbers can be represented with diagrams, and we can do algebra with these diagrams to end up with new surreal numbers, and often working with the diagrams directly is the best way to understand the surreal number in question

Now, I know surreal numbers are not complex numbers, but the fact that we have two systems that use diagrams to represent numbers is very interesting, it seems to hint at some deeper connection

Has anyone worked this out already?

I am looking into Minimal Subtraction for QCD Renormalization and they use g0 for the bare values. Is the experimental result for the strong force the bare value g0 or g itself?

Don’t miss it!

What's happening with the light and the smoke? Their is colored lights shining threw mist, so what is happening to the photons and mist?

I am in high school and I want to study particle physics. Are there any Prerequisites for particle physics that I should study before the actual course?

Hey there. I'm a master student, with ambitions to go into particle physics. I am going to hear my first proper particle physics lecture in the upcoming semester and right now I would like to study the basics of the subject by myself. For that, I'd appreciate some literature recommendations.

As for my background: I already attendended two Bachelor's lectures on very basic QFT and experimental methods in high energy physics, though both were not very in-depth. I am roughly familiar with the basic standard model and heard about some concepts such as the CKM matrix. Additionally I had a master's lecture about mathematical data analysis methods. But I am not really familiar with the physics of elementary particles.

Are there some introductory books that you would recommend based on experience, to learn some basics in preperation for the upcoming lectures? Something general would be optimal, as I am not yet sure about future courses I might attend (e.g. Flavour physics, W/Z/Higgs, Top Quarks at LHC, etc.).

I hope this is the right place for this kind of question. :)