Feynman diagram
A pictorial representation of particle interactions developed by Richard Feynman. Time progresses upward (or leftward), straight lines represent matter particles (fermions), wavy/curly lines represent force-carrying particles (bosons), and vertices where lines meet represent interactions. Feynman diagrams are essential tools for visualising quantum processes and calculating interaction probabilities.
Real World
Richard Feynman first sketched his diagrams on a napkin at the 1948 Pocono Conference; today every particle physics paper at CERN uses them to predict interaction rates before running billion-dollar experiments.
Exam Focus
Always label arrow directions, particle names, and exchange bosons at each vertex — missing labels lose marks.
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