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Comment by programd | Hacker News Reader

I can also add this set of articles from Matt Strassler which explains it all with surprisingly simple math. It really is quite understandable and I wish more pop-sci discussions of the subject threw in a few equations now and then to explain such stuff.

https://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/particle-ph...

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Sean Carroll produces a great deal of content for people that want a bit more rigorous explanation rather than the leaky metaphors of most popsci. He often delves into equations and technical details, but keeps it at a level mostly understandable for someone who has basic scientific understanding, but isn't a professional/academic. I spend many hours every month listening to him and recommend his content every chance I get.

Carroll's latest book "Quanta and Fields: The Biggest Ideas in the Universe" is about all this quantum field theory, and I think it perfectly covers the gap between pop-sci and academic material for people with some math exposure.

While other authors just keep shy of equations and thus need to resort to simplified analogies, Carroll is not afraid of throwing a good share of math stuff and explaining the rationale from one equation to the other, while avoiding the really hard parts ("solving this equation tortures undergrad physics students for a year, but we won't be doing that")

Just to go off these great works, there's a wonderful academic piece on the interaction between cosmology, quantum particles, and the higgs field here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYJ1dbyDcrI

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