The Standard Model:
The Shakespeare of Science
The "big picture" of particle physics is the Standard Model. It is an astonishing accomplishment: a description of the universe that says that everything is made up of particles that interact with one another according to fairly simple and well understood for 15315c27p ces. It is as much a masterpiece in the field of science, Professor Pollock asserts, as the collected works of William Shakespeare are in literature.
Like the language of Shakespeare, the language of the Standard Model is at times formidable. Terms such as "quantum chromodynamics," "gauge symmetry," "unified quantum field theory," and "renormalization" pepper its vocabulary. As you will discover, however, these terms often have surprisingly simple meanings, and can be understood using everyday analogies:
"Deep inelastic scattering," a term that describes a process used to learn about the nature of quarks, essentially means firing electrons deep into protons at high energies. ("Like smashing a rock through glass," Professor Pollock observes.)
"Quarks" are the smallest particles inside the nuclei of atoms. The name "quark" has no scientific meaning-it was taken from a passage in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. The "strong force" that binds quarks together can be imagined by thinking about an ordinary rubber band. The farther apart quarks are, the more strongly they attract one another. The closer they are, the less the attraction-compare that to a stretched or slack rubber band.
"Symmetry" is an extremely important, but at times abstract, aspect of particle physics. However, such familiar objects as snowflakes and mirrors-examples of ways in which different perspectives yield the same view of an object-enable the average person to grasp this concept and its usefulness to scientists.
The Standard Model also provides an opportunity to think about some of the larger questions that particle physicists, and all scientists, ask: What does a model or theory mean to a physicist? What makes a theory right? What does it mean when you can successfully predict that a specific phenomenon will be discovered? What is the role of "big science"-large, costly projects-in science itself?
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