Twitter: @seanforscience (followed by 10 accounts on physicist, mathematician, and astronomer lists)
Site: pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics
48 episodes
2021 to present
Average episode: 7 minutes
Open in Apple Podcasts • RSS
Categories: Monologue (Non-Course) • Physics
Podcaster's summary: This is your informal guide to the subatomic ecosystem we’re all immersed in. In this series, we explore the taxa of particle species and how they interact with one another. Our aim is give us all a better foundation for understanding our place in the universe. | | The guide starts with a host of different particle species. We’ll talk about their masses, charges and interactions with other particles. We’ll talk about how they are created, how they decay, and what other particles they might be made of.
| Episodes |
| 2022-Nov-04 • 16 minutes Bonus : The Perils of Science Communication Update! Best place to find associated references are linked in our substack essay:This is an essay that we originally posted on our substack page:https://pasayteninstitute.substack.... Bonus Episode for The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 3https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, wit... |
| 2022-Sep-27 • 10 minutes Bonus : The Physics of Muon Colliders The rest of season three is still under development! We wanted to improve the clarity before publishing. Parity violation just isn't that easy to talk about! In the mean time, here is the second episode in a short bonus series about the state and future contemporary particle physics. I hope you enjoy it!This is an essay that we originally posted on our substack page:https://pasayteninstitute.substack.... is a follow up to our 4 Reasons to Build a New Particle ColliderYou can also get the bumper sticker vers... |
| 2022-Sep-22 • 9 minutes Bonus: We should build a muon collider. The rest of season three is still under development! We wanted to improve the clarity before publishing. Parity violation just isn't that easy to talk about! In the mean time, here is the second episode in a short bonus series about the state and future contemporary particle physics. I hope you enjoy it!This is an essay that we originally posted on our substack page:https://pasayteninstitute.substack.... Reasons we should build a new particle collider:1. We still have more science to do!2. Technology transf... |
| 2022-Sep-20 • 19 minutes Bonus : Do we really need new particle physics? The rest of season three is still under development! We wanted to improve the clarity before publishing. Sphalerons just aren't easy to talk about! In the mean time, here is the first in a short bonus series about the state and future contemporary particle physics. I hope you enjoy it!This is an essay that we originally posted on our substack page:https://pasayteninstitute.substack.... Bonus Episode for The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 3https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Ins... |
| 2022-Sep-05 • 14 minutes The Positron Excess The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 3https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Positron ExcessSpace is not a safe place. Matter and energy take on a totally different form than is familiar from our planetary lifestyle. Radiation is everywhere, and wi... |
| 2022-Aug-16 • 12 minutes The Antineutrino The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 3https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.Also check out the links embedded this description. Or also check out those same links at:https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-... Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The AntineutrinoThe neutrino is a curious partic... |
| 2022-Jul-29 • 5 minutes The Antineutron The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 3https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The AntineutronLike the antiproton, the antineutron is a composite particle made up of antiquarks. It looks a lot like the neutron, and that’s pretty interesting because both ... |
| 2022-Jul-27 • 7 minutes The Antiproton Virtual pions and gluons and other quantum effects are all dressed up in the antiproton package around three valance antiquarks. That’s two anti-up quarks and one anti-down quark. The antiproton looks virtually identical to the proton - except that it has a negative electric charge. |
| 2022-Jul-21 • 6 minutes The Positron The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 3https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The PositronThe positron is the antiparticle partner to the electron.Ostensibly, positrons have the same mass as the electron, around 511 keV. They also have the same electri... |
| 2022-May-13 • 2 minutes Antimatter! : Season 3 Trailer The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.Introducing Season 3 : Antimatter!I hope you enjoyed Season 2, and the bonus episodes on cosmic rays that followed shortly after. This is just a short note to let ... |
| 2022-Apr-21 • 17 minutes The Impact of Particle Physics on the Moon The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Primary reference for this piece on the Lunar Surface:https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publica... Jean-Philippe Combe's professional website at the PSI.The asteroid 4-... |
| 2022-Apr-09 • 17 minutes Cosmic Rays : Part 4 : Paleoclimatology and Muons When ice forms it traps air molecules with it. Ancient ice, trapped deep in glaciers near the Earth's poles can give us a record of what the atmosphere was like thousands - if not millions - of years ago. But only if we can calibrate the relationship between time and depth. Unlike sunlight, muons from cosmic rays can penetrate deep into this glacial ice, complicating this just a little bit. |
| 2022-Apr-02 • 12 minutes Cosmic Rays : Part 3 : Cosmogenic Muons and Special Relativity The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Particle Data Group's write up on cosmic rays. See Figure 29.8 for a representation of the "ankle" feature in the spectrum.https://pdg.lbl.gov/2019/review... r... |
| 2022-Mar-25 • 13 minutes Cosmic Rays : Part 2 : Plasma Physics The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Particle Data Group's write up on cosmic rays. See Figure 29.8 for a representation of the "ankle" feature in the spectrum.https://pdg.lbl.gov/2019/review... r... |
| 2022-Mar-18 • 10 minutes Cosmic Rays : Part 1 : Particles from Space The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Particle Data Group's write up on cosmic rays. See Figure 29.8 for a representation of the "ankle" feature in the spectrum.https://pdg.lbl.gov/2019/review... r... |
| 2022-Mar-04 • 7 minutes The Omega Baryon The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 2https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Omega BaryonIntroductionThe Omega Baryon is the strangest particle we have encountered so far. It may also be the strangest particle known to Science, literally.With a mas... |
| 2022-Feb-25 • 6 minutes The Cascades The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 2https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Cascade ParticlesPrepare for trouble! And make it double! Today we confront the two Cascade or Xi /ksee/ baryons which each have a PAIR of strange quarks.Xi minus checks i... |
| 2022-Feb-18 • 7 minutes The Neutral Sigma Baryon The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 2https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Neutral Sigma BaryonsIntroductionWeighing in at 1192 MeV, the middle-weight sigma baryon is also the the electrically neutral one.The Sigma Baryons are a trio of strange, ... |
| 2022-Feb-11 • 10 minutes The Charged Sigma Baryons The Sigma Baryons - that’s a capital Sigma - are a trio of slightly heavy cousins to everyday particles like the proton and the neutron. With masses of almost 1200 MeV each, it may surprise you that the physics of Sigma baryons feels much closer to a comparatively puny trio of pions. The similarities are helpful for building an intuition, but the differences are stark. While the charged pions are antiparticle partners, the charged Sigmas are anything but. |
| 2022-Feb-04 • 7 minutes The Neutral Kaons The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 2https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Neutral KaonsBefore we can describe neutral kaons in the wild, we need to take a quick detour to the city.South of Downtown Seattle resides the historic Pioneer Square. Br... |
| 2022-Jan-28 • 6 minutes The Eta and Eta Prime Mesons The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 2https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Eta and Eta Prime MesonsThe Eta and Eta Prime particles are a pair of electrically neutral particles that were - for a moment anyway - the center of a fierce debate among ... |
| 2022-Jan-21 • 4 minutes The Charged Kaons The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 2https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.Charge KaonsStrangeness - as a property of particles - was an attempt to explain why some particles took a really long time to decay. By that measure, the charged Kaons are de... |
| 2022-Jan-14 • 5 minutes The Strange Quark Quarks make up baryons like the proton and the neutron. Or more exotic things like the Lambda0 or the Delta++. Previously, we’ve learned about the up and down quarks - those fundamental constituents of matter like protons and neutrons. Today we’re learning about the third of the three light quarks - the strange quark! |
| 2022-Jan-11 • 3 minutes The Lambda 0 Baryon The Field Guide to Particle Physics : Season 2https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.For more technical details on the Lambda 0 baryon, including how why it decays to an up but not a down quark, check out this short, informal video.The Lambda 0 BaryonWith a ma... |
| 2022-Jan-05 • 2 minutes Season 2 Trailer : Introducing Strangeness The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.On StrangenessAs promised, season two of a Field Guide to Particle Physics is just around the corner. This time we’ll focus on a family of particles that all have ... |
| 2021-Dec-21 • 10 minutes The Alpha Particle : Part 5 : The Solar Wind The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.A few References and Resources for you.Isotopes of Helium:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso... Fact Sheet from NIST:https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/inchi/... Fact she... |
| 2021-Dec-11 • 10 minutes The Alpha Particle : Part 4 : Inside the Earth The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.A few References and Resources for you.Isotopes of Helium:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso... Fact Sheet from NIST:https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/inchi/... Fact she... |
| 2021-Dec-09 • 9 minutes The Alpha Particle : Part 3 : Binding Energy The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.A few References and Resources for you.Isotopes of Helium:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso... Fact Sheet from NIST:https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/inchi/... got fun ... |
| 2021-Dec-06 • 12 minutes The Alpha Particle : Part 2 : The Helium Shortage Helium is at scale used for all kinds of industrial purposes, including superconducting magnets! We explore these example, and describe where on Earth Helium comes from. Finally we review the recent history of government policy and the commodities market for Helium. |
| 2021-Dec-02 • 7 minutes The Alpha Particle : Part 1 : Helium The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.Isotopes of Helium:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso... Fact Sheet from NIST:https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/inchi/... Alpha ParticlePart 1 - HeliumThe story of Heliu... |
| 2021-Oct-08 • 4 minutes The Higgs Boson The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Higgs BosonAs far as we know, there is no other particle like the Higgs Boson, but there probably should be.The Higgs is a difficult particle to describe becau... |
| 2021-Oct-07 • 3 minutes The Z Boson Every once in a while, without warning, an electron is accelerated seemingly out of nowhere. Ripped from whatever atom, molecule or metal it had been associated with, it suddenly becomes it’s own ballistic particle. When this happens, a Z-boson has almost certainly been involved. |
| 2021-Oct-06 • 4 minutes W Boson The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The W BosonWith a mass of 80.4 GeV, the W-bosons are heavy particles. On paper, they carry the weak nuclear force and have much in common with the photon and the g... |
| 2021-Oct-05 • 7 minutes The Gluon The strong nuclear force - the fundamental force behind the subnuclear junk we find inside the nucleons - is communicated via a particle very similar to the photon. But you’ll have to excuse their name, however apt. The particles that communicate between quarks are called gluons. Yes, as in glue. |
| 2021-Oct-04 • 5 minutes The Delta Baryons The Delta baryons are combinations of up and down quarks. They’re like the proton and the neutron, only much more heavy and much less stable. They all seem to have about the same mass - around 1232 MeV, but we don’t really have a good handle on it. That is mostly because the Delta baryons lives are so short. They decay extremely quickly, in 5.6 ×10^−24 seconds. |
| 2021-Oct-03 • 4 minutes The Neutral Pion The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Neutral PionIn many ways, the neutral pion - sometimes call the π0 meson - is closely related to the charged pions. In others, the neutral pion is a truly biza... |
| 2021-Oct-02 • 4 minutes The Charged Pion The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Charged PionsQuarks make up more than big, triplet particles like protons and neutrons. Sometimes they come in pairs. A pair of up and down down quarks is call... |
| 2021-Oct-01 • 4 minutes The Neutron With a mass of 939.565 MeV, the neutron is the second lightest baryon - that is, a particle made up of three quarks. The neutron's quarks include one up and two downs, so it is total electric charge is zero. The neutron may be electrically neutral, but don’t let that fool you, it still interacts with the electromagnetic field. |
| 2021-Sep-30 • 3 minutes The Proton With a mass of 938.27 MeV, the proton is the lowest energy configuration of a trio of quarks. It has two up quarks and a down, but remember most of that mass is made up of subnuclear goo. You can find protons literally everywhere: from the nuclei of atoms on Earth to collisions at ultra high speeds from deep in outer space. |
| 2021-Sep-29 • 4 minutes The Up and Down Quarks The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The Up and Down QuarksThe nuclei of atoms are made up of protons and neutrons, which you can think of as tiny bags of nuclear junk: heavy, condensed slimeballs tha... |
| 2021-Sep-28 • 5 minutes The Neutrino The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The NeutrinoThe tiny, neutral one - or neutrino - has caused a lot of consternation since its discovery.As the positively charged proton has the neutral neutron, s... |
| 2021-Sep-27 • 3 minutes The Tau The Field Guide to Particle Physics https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics©2021... The Pasayten Institute cc by-sa-4.0The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov.The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! Get in touch.The TauThe tau is a very heavy species of elementary particle that aren’t quite as common as the electron or the muon. Nevertheless, just as the muon shares many o... |
| 2021-Sep-26 • 4 minutes The Muon Muons are a lesser known species of elementary particles that are extremely common, at least on Earth. They’re falling all around us, all the time. Muons are created by the collision of particles from outer space smashing into the molecules of the upper atmosphere. |
| 2021-Sep-25 • 2 minutes The Electron The electron is arguably the most famous of the elementary particles. They are the business end of the atom, and their dynamics give rise to virtually all of chemistry. They’re also the basic working particle of electricity, and their presence or absence in the silicon transistors correspond to the digital 0’s or 1’s of modern computers. |
| 2021-Sep-24 • 4 minutes The Photon Light is made up of particles: quirky, counterintuitive particles, but particles nonetheless. This fact was a surprise, and is still difficult to internalize, because light is also made up of electromagnetic waves. We call particles of light photons. Photons have no mass, but they do have energy. |
| 2021-Sep-23 • 5 minutes The Electron Cloud Atoms are modeled by a nucleus surrounded by an electron cloud. We’ve discussed the nucleus earlier; it’s the hard center of the atom. It’s really, really small, as small as a speck of dust in the middle of a baseball stadium. Despite that fact, the nucleus makes up over 99% of the atom’s mass. Electrons are quite light by comparison. |
| 2021-Sep-22 • 4 minutes The Atomic Nucleus We are made of molecules, and molecules are made of atoms, and atoms are really, really small. Atoms are so small that its hard for our minds to comprehend it, but if you need a reference point take your height and divide it by a billion. Or maybe ten billion! Atoms are too small to rationalize. |
| 2021-Sep-21 • 8 minutes The Guide to the Field Guide to Particle Physics The guide starts with a host of different particle species. We’ll talk about their masses, charges and interactions with other particles. We’ll talk about how they are created, how they decay, and what other particles they might be made of. Before we begin, we’ll visit some of the most important ideas in understanding particle physics, just to make sure we’re all on the same page. |