Feynman diagram

English

WOTD – 11 May 2018

Etymology

A Feynman diagram illustrating the electron-positron scattering process known as Bhabha scattering

Named after its inventor, American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman (1918–1988).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪnmən ˈdaɪəɡɹæm/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Feyn‧man dia‧gram

Noun

Feynman diagram (plural Feynman diagrams)

1. (physics) A pictorial representation of the interactions of subatomic particles, showing their paths in space and time as lines, and their interactions as points where lines meet.
   • 1950 February 15, Robert Karplus, Norman M[yles] Kroll, “Fourth-order Corrections in Quantum Electrodynamics and the Magnetic Moment of the Electron”, in Physical Review, volume 77, number 4, Lancaster, Pa.: Published for the American Physical Society by the American Institute of Physics, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 536:

     Feynman diagrams for the fourth-order radiative corrections to the scattering of an electron by an electromagnetic field.

   • 1967 April 3, Betty L. Oberholtzer, Publications of the National Bureau of Standards: Published by NBS July 1960 through June 1966; Published by Others 1960 through 1965 (with Subject and Authors Indexes) (National Bureau of Standards Supplement to Miscellaneous Publication; 240), [Washington, D.C.]: National Bureau of Standards, United States Department of Commerce, →OCLC, page 145:

     The symbolic representation of Maxwell's equations is introduced to make it easier to survey the whole subject and to formulate the equations. The Feynman diagram method is applied to the computation of the correlation of the fields at different points in space to any order of approximation.

   • 2015, Tony Hey, Gyuri Pápay, “Preface”, in The Computing University: A Journey through a Revolution, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page vii:

     Among physicists, Feynman is probably best known for Feynman diagrams, the work that brought him his Nobel Prize in 1964. The diagrams constitute a computational tool kit that enables physicists to make sense of not only Quantum Electrodynamics, the theory that underpins electricity and magnetism, but also of the relativistic quantum field theories believed to describe the weak and strong interactions of elementary particles.

Translations

pictorial representation of the interactions of subatomic particles

• Albanian: diagramat e Fajmanit
• Arabic: مخطط فاينمان
• Belarusian: дыяграмы Фейнмана (dyjahramy Fjejnmana)
• Bengali: ফাইনম্যান চিত্র (phainmman citro)
• Bulgarian: диаграма на Файнман (diagrama na Fajnman)
• Catalan: diagrama de Feynman m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 費曼規矩／费曼规矩

  Mandarin: 費曼圖／费曼图 (Fèimàntú)

• Czech: Feynmanovy diagramy m
• Dutch: Feynmandiagram n
• Estonian: Feynmani diagramm
• Finnish: Feynmanin graafi
• French: diagramme de Feynman (fr) m
• Galician: diagrama de Feynman m
• German: Feynman-Diagramm n
• Greek: διάγραμμα Φάινμαν n (diágramma Fáinman)
• Hebrew: דיאגרמת פיינמן
• Hungarian: Feynman-gráf
• Italian: diagramma di Feynman m
• Japanese: ファインマン・ダイアグラム
• Korean: 파인먼 도형 (painmeon dohyeong)
• Persian: نمودار فاینمن
• Polish: diagram Feynmana m
• Portuguese: diagrama de Feynman m
• Russian: диаграммы Фейнмана f (diagrammy Fejnmana)
• Serbo-Croatian: Feynmanov dȉjagram m
• Slovak: Feynmanov diagram
• Slovene: Feynmanov diagram
• Spanish: diagrama de Feynman m
• Swedish: Feynmandiagram n
• Tatar: Фейнман диаграммалары (Feynman diağrammaları)
• Turkish: Feynman diyagramı
• Ukrainian: діаграма Фейнмана (diahrama Fejnmana)
• Vietnamese: sơ đồ Feynman

Further reading

• Feynman diagram on Wikipedia.Wikipedia