In physics, there are two great pillars of thought that don't quite fit together. The Standard Model of particle physics describes all known fundamental particles and three forces: electromagnetism, ...

Scientists seeking the secrets of the universe would like to make a model that shows how all of nature's forces and particles fit together. It would be nice to do it with Legos. But perhaps a better ...

If you could take an apple and break it into smaller and smaller parts, you would find molecules, then atoms, followed by subatomic particles like protons and the quarks and gluons that make them up.

Quantum field theory (QFT) realises particles as excitations of underlying fields that permeate spacetime. By quantising classical gauge and matter fields, QFT unifies quantum mechanics with special ...

Results from string theory, generalizing the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory correspondence, may offer a fresh set of mathematical tools for understanding some kinds of phase transitions that ...

A quantum simulator has given physicists a new look at one of the strangest ...

Physicists claim they may have found a long-awaited explanation for dark energy, the mysterious force that's driving the accelerated expansion of the universe, a new preprint study hints. Their ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. String theory captured the hearts and minds of many physicists decades ago because of a beautiful simplicity. Zoom in far enough on a ...

Because someone said that the Large Hardon Collider is cooler than the Burj Dubai, I ended up spending an hour reading about hadrons, mesons, baryons, and the such. I swear I felt more than a couple ...

In quantum field theory, spontaneous particle formation can occur when the potential energy between two elementary particles increases with their separation, as if they were confined by a string. When ...

Scientists seeking the secrets of the universe would like to make a model that shows how all of nature’s forces and particles fit together. It would be nice to do it with Legos. But perhaps a better ...