Feynman diagram

American  

noun

Physics.

1. a network of lines that represents a series of emissions and absorptions of elementary particles by other elementary particles, from which the probability of the series can be calculated.

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Feynman diagram British  

/ ˈfaɪnmən /

noun

1. physics a graphical representation of the interactions between elementary particles

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Feynman diagram Scientific  

1. A diagram used to help describe and visualize the possible interactions between particles in quantum electrodynamics and quantum chromodynamics. Fermions, such as electrons, are represented with straight lines and bosons, such as photons, with wavy lines. Points of intersection indicate an interaction, such as an electromagnetic interaction, between the particles.

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Etymology

Origin of Feynman diagram

1965–70; named after R. P. Feynman, who devised it

Example Sentences

Figure 33.6 is a Feynman diagram for the exchange of a virtual pion between a proton and a neutron representing the same interaction as in Figure 33.3.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

Figure 33.23 This Feynman diagram is the same interaction as shown in Figure 33.6, but it shows the quark and gluon details of the strong force interaction.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

A pictorial representation of this process, known as a Feynman diagram, is shown in Fig. 1a.

From Nature • May 12, 2015

Hence, what is known as the Feynman diagram was invented to deal with the problem of infinite divergences in the mathematics of field theory.

From Scientific American • Mar. 22, 2013

“For decades, there has not been an issue of the Physical Review,” he says, reverentially, “that did not have a Feynman diagram in it.”

From Washington Post • Sep. 30, 2011