Looking for some examples of Feynman diagrams to use in your physics class or study? We have a collection of the diagrams below in printable quality. In theoretical physics, Feynman diagrams are pictorial representations of the mathematical expressions describing the behavior of subatomic particles. The scheme is named after its inventor, American physicist Richard Feynman, and was first introduced in 1948. Let’s check out the first example of the diagram below.
Feynman diagrams give a simple visualization of what would otherwise be an arcane and abstract formula. This diagram is a graphical representation of a perturbative contribution to the transition amplitude or correlation function of a quantum mechanical or statistical field theory. As you can see in the diagrams, there are two types of lines in a Feynman diagram. The straight lines represent electrons, symbolized with e, or positrons (also called an anti-electron, it is an electron’s antimatter pair), and the squiggily lines representing photons, symbolized with gamma, which are the force carriers for the electromagnateic interactions.
The straight lines are nominally electrons, traveling in a given direction. Positrons are defined only once the time axis of the diagram is defined. Gluon interactions are often represented by a Feynman diagram. The gluon exchange picture there converts a blue quark to a green one and vice versa. The range of the strong force is limited by the fact that the gluons interact with each other as well as with quarks in the context of quark confinement.
These diagrams are provided solely to help you learn about the diagram. If you really want to learn how to use Feynman diagrams might as well take several classes in quantum field theory. That will help you understand the stuff even better and in a broader range.