Quantum electrodynamics: theory

The Standard Model of particle physics is composed of several theories that are added together.  The most precise component theory is the theory of quantum electrodynamics or QED.  In this video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln explains how theoretical QED calculations can be done.  This video links to other videos, giving the viewer a deep understanding of the process.

Related videos:

[cybacto]

Dr. Don, I think that in order for someone to explain fundamental aspects of science, that someone needs to really understand very well what they are talking about. You obviously do, and it's great that you do these videos for lay folks like me. Thanks.

[EugeneKhutoryansky]

I just found out about your channel, and I have now subscribed.

[draoi]

Thank you. Physics is better than drugs for expanding the mind.

[bongo]

Thank you so much for this . As some who has a limitless curiosity about physics , but not the intellect to even attempt to delve into the math, to me this video is like a kid who has just been let loose in a candy store .. Nice to finally know what all these funny squiggly drawings represent . Looking forward to absorbing more of your excellent videos .

[WilliamSteppan]

I'm sure I've said it before but it bears repeating: notification of a new Dr. Lincoln video is the highlight of any day. Thank you for all you do in furthering humanity's understanding of the universe and bringing that knowledge to us in a helpful manner!

[VERGIS]

I wanted to watch porn, but QED videos keep distracting me so bad

[KafshakTashtak]

Forget Vsauce and Veritasium. Can this guy teach us physics please? I don't care for the level, I really like his teaching style.

[constpegasus]

Beautiful work Mr Lincoln. I really enjoy and appreciate your work here to help us get a grip on these points. Please keep them coming.

[lolatomroflsinnlos]

I feel like I'm in a secret club with this video only having around 100 views.

[tekinoglusami]

Thanks fermilab, I find myself binge watching all of your videos over and over again. Thank you for making this kind of education possible <3 <3 <3

[hopolo]

It's fitting that "the most accurate theory of particle physics" is called QED as in "quot erat demonstratum, " meaning "undisputable."

[evilcam]

I love love love the series of lectures Feynman gave in Auckland, detailing QED in particular, explaining most of the pertinent aspects of it to pure laymen, and all of it made sense. In those videos he said he was intentionally leaving out spin just because it did not change the fundamental flavor or action of the theory, and it was just another aspect of the calculation to keep track of that he thought would unnecessarily confuse the audience. I hope you guys go into that at some point, just picking up where he left off, in order to expand on the info he gave and to add to popular science communication in so consistent and important a way as did Feynman himself.

I know Dr Lincoln is skeptical about the long form, more technically apropos video idea, but I personally would love it and I am pretty sure I am not the only one. Each of the bootleg uploads of the Auckland lectures has over 100k views, so I would think the extra work you guys put into making a longer form video would not be wasted. Like any of Feynman's lectures or books, all they would do is help inspire the next 5 generations of scientists, and through that inspiration no doubt make the world a MUCH better place.

Regardless though, whether you decide to try long form or not, I love this channel and love these videos and will continue watching them as long as you keep making them.

[sushilamalanathans]

Dr Lincoln, Thanks a lot for lucidly introducing QED, to non physics grads like me in this video. Few days back, I was directed to two papers by Oliver Consa debunking "QED is the most accurate theory" claim, does this imply new developments could be expected in this field.

[liilianalopez]

I'm an English major but I took a Quantics for Everyone class which blew my mind. Channels like these are a treasure.

[ahgflyguy]

This is great. It covers some stuff that Feynman's book QED does not, which, given how simply it can be explained, is kinda surprising the Feynman left out.

I'd urge you to add links to referenced videos in the video description for those people who are on mobile devices. In the mobile youtube apps, the in-video links are disabled. Since this video is unlisted, I had to go to a different computer to follow the link to it.

I really appreciate that Don is able to spend time on this. Please keep it up. I liked Frostbite Theater. I like Don even more.

[MarianneExJohnson]

Tomonaga's first name is pronounced Shin-Ichiro, not Sin-Itiro. The incorrect pronunciation is the result of the old romanization systems that were still commonly used back then, where し was transcribed as "si" despite being pronounced "shi" and ち was transcribed as "ti" despite being pronounced as "chi" and, unfortunately for Mr. Tomonaga's memory, that transliteration, and the resulting mis-pronunciation, has stuck.

(The non-phonetic transliterations of し and ち and a few other Japanese syllables actually make some sense given the structure of the Japanese phonetic scripts (kana), but that doesn't make them any less misleading...)

[LooseGripHandle]

Would be quite happy to watch a 2-4 hour breakdown of more information 😊

[Saki]

yay, I asked for this awhile ago. I got the QED book by Feynman, and was frustrated at how there was not meaningful calculations. He kept talking about adding vectors with different origins and at the end the sum of the arrows would give you what actually happened. Then he talked about normalizing them. However, I just wanted to see something that helped me understand what he was talking about -- like a few matrices or an example calculation in final page of the book.

[FISTER]

I just found this channel a few weeks ago, but it is now my favorite science channel on youtube.

[henergynow]

Awesome presentation, loved both its simplification, and it giving credit to the Nobel prize winners too.