Document Type
Course
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Physics 3710 – Intermediate Modern Physics, Spring 2018
Publication Date
1-8-2018
First Page
1
Last Page
5
Abstract
In the hot early universe, prior to the epoch of nucleosynthesis, even the most primitive nuclear material—i.e., protons and neutrons—could not have existed. Earlier than 10–5 s or so after t = 0 , the universe would have been a hot soup consisting of the most elementary of particles—photons, electrons, positrons, neutrinos, quarks, and gluons. We now turn to the,” “Standard Model of Particle Physics,” our current understanding of these elementary building blocks and their interactions. The Standard Model of Particle Physics (SMPP), developed in fits and starts over the past 50 years, is a quantitatively predictive theory of subatomic matter. It accurately describes the structure of matter at the smallest length scales yet probed, just as the Standard Model of Cosmology (SMC)—the FLWR spacetime (including cold, dark matter and vacuum energy)—accurately describes the structure of matter at the largest observed length scales. The SMPP and SMC are not only complementary in scale, they are also complementary in “force”: the SMC is only about gravity, while the SMPP says nothing about gravity at all.
Recommended Citation
Peak, David, "Structure of matter, 1" (2018). Structure of Matter. Paper 1.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/intermediate_modernphysics_matter/1