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Learn Particle Physics

Meet the smallest building blocks of matter and the forces between them.

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Particle physics asks what matter is made of at the smallest scales and how those pieces interact. Its answer so far is the Standard Model: six quarks, six leptons, force-carrying bosons and the Higgs boson, found at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in 2012. The model explains three of the four fundamental forces, but not gravity, dark matter or why matter outnumbers antimatter. Beginners start with the particle zoo and conservation laws, then learn to read Feynman diagrams. Learnr creates a particle physics course from your prompt and teaches it through short lessons with interactive checks.

How to learn Particle Physics, step by step

Learn the units and scales first. Particle physicists measure energy and mass in electron-volts, often MeV and GeV. Convert a few masses, such as the proton at about 938 MeV, so the numbers in tables mean something before you memorize them.
Memorize the Standard Model table by structure. Learn quarks and leptons in three generations, each heavier than the last, and the bosons by the force they carry: photon, gluon, W and Z. Knowing the pattern makes the table easy to rebuild from memory.
Build hadrons from quarks. Assemble a proton as up-up-down and a neutron as up-down-down, checking the charges add up. Then learn color charge, why quarks are confined, and how mesons pair a quark with an antiquark.
Check reactions with conservation laws. For each proposed decay, test charge, baryon number, lepton number and energy. Practice spotting forbidden reactions, which builds the same reasoning physicists use when searching for rare processes.
Read and draw Feynman diagrams. Start with electron-positron annihilation and beta decay through a W boson. Treat the diagrams as bookkeeping for which particles interact and through which force, without worrying yet about the calculations behind them.
Follow real experiments and review regularly. Learn how detectors track charged particles in magnetic fields and how the Higgs was found as a small bump in data. Brief daily Learnr lessons help the large particle vocabulary settle in.

What you'll learn

Name the quarks, leptons and gauge bosons of the Standard Model and their charges
Classify hadrons as baryons or mesons from their quark content
Use conservation of charge, baryon number and lepton number to check whether a reaction is allowed
Read simple Feynman diagrams for electromagnetic and weak interactions
Explain the role of the Higgs field and how particles are detected at colliders

What's inside your Particle Physics course

A sample path Learnr builds for Particle Physics. Your real course adapts to your goal and level.

1. From atoms to quarks: a short history
2. The Standard Model particle table
3. The four forces and their carriers
4. Conservation laws and particle reactions
5. Feynman diagrams, neutrinos and the Higgs boson
6. Accelerators, detectors and open questions

How long does it take to learn Particle Physics?

A conceptual understanding of the Standard Model takes about 1 to 3 months at 3 to 4 hours a week. An undergraduate particle physics course takes a semester after quantum mechanics and special relativity, and quantum field theory is graduate study that takes considerably longer.

What you need before you start

Basic atomic structure and comfort with scientific notation for the concepts. Quantitative study needs special relativity, quantum mechanics, calculus and linear algebra.

Common mistakes to avoid

Thinking protons and neutrons are elementary. Each is made of three valence quarks bound by gluons, while electrons appear to have no internal structure.
Assuming the Higgs field gives all mass. It gives elementary particles their rest mass, but most of a proton's mass comes from the energy of quarks and gluons inside it.
Reading Feynman diagrams as pictures of particle paths. They are symbolic terms in a calculation, not trajectories through space.

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Particle Physics questions, answered

Does the Standard Model include gravity?

No. The Standard Model covers the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces. Gravity is described by general relativity, and combining the two into one quantum theory remains an open problem.

What math do I need for particle physics?

Concepts and conservation-law reasoning need only algebra. Calculating decay rates and cross sections needs calculus, linear algebra, complex numbers, special relativity and eventually quantum field theory.

What is antimatter?

Every particle has an antiparticle with the same mass and opposite charges, such as the positron for the electron. When a particle meets its antiparticle they can annihilate into energy.