Why is there something rather than nothing? It’s a question so basic and so vast in scope that it seems beyond the realm of quantitative inquiry. And yet surprisingly, it is a question that can be framed and at least partially answered in the study of particle physics.
The standard model (SM) is our current theory of matter and its interactions. Written in the language of relativistic quantum field theory, it has stood up to several decades of tests at high-energy colliders. We know, however, that it cannot be the complete description of the universe, in large part because in several important regards it fails to answer the something-versus-nothing question.
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