Symmetry and Quantum Electrodynamics (The Standard Model Part 1)

The Standard Model of Particle Physics is an absolutely incredible theory and a triumph of modern physics capable of explaining almost all of the physical phenomena we observe in nature. However, to understand it, we need to dive into some deep ideas including symmetry and how these relate to conserved quantities in physics. Here, we begin our journey of the standard model by introducing these ideas an showing how they can be used to arrive at one of the most successful theories in history: quantum electrodynamics.