dileep_vr t1_je7wmie wrote on March 30, 2023 at 1:27 AM

Maybe more accurate to say that the standard model is just QED with more fields. But basically, yeah. QCD for example, involves the strong nuclear force (gluons) and "particles" with "color" (eg. quarks). QED is electromagnetic force (photons) and "particles" with charge. Vanilla QED just considered electrons (and by extension, positrons).

star-nostar OP t1_je8me1l wrote on March 30, 2023 at 5:16 AM

Thanks. Yeah, I know physicists now talk about fields and forces, where the book I read takes the view that photons and electrons are both particles. I hope the particle perspective is not wrong, as long as I'm not actually trying to calculate anything.