Basic information

Explanation of the term "particle"

In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics. Although the word "particle" can be used in reference to many objects (e.g. a proton, a gas particle, or even household dust), the term "particle physics" usually refers to the study of "smallest" particles and the fundamental fields that must be defined in order to explain the observed particles.These cannot be defined by a combination of other fundamental fields. The current set of fundamental fields and their dynamics are summarized in a theory called the Standard Model, therefore particle physics is largely the study of the Standard Model's particle content and its possible extensions.

Introductory reading

• Close, Frank (2004). Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280434-0.
• Close, Frank; Marten, Michael; Sutton, Christine (2004). The Particle Odyssey: A Journey to the Heart of the Matter. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198609438.
• Schumm, Bruce A. (2004). Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-7971-X.
• Close, Frank (2006). The New Cosmic Onion. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-58488-798-2.

Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia [online]. 2014 [cit. 2014-01-23]. Source: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/

Educational poster: Standard Model of Fundamental particles and interactions

The particle adventure: Interactive tour of quarks, neutrinos, accelerators and particle detectors