In the second half of the twentieth century, physicists united the field concept with their burgeoning understanding of the microworld encapsulated by quantum mechanics. The result, quantum field theory, provides a mathematical framework for our most refined theories of matter and nature’s forces. Using it, physicists have established that in addition to electric and magnetic fields, there exists a whole panoply of others with names like strong and weak nuclear fields and electron, quark, and neutrino fields. One field that to date remains wholly hypothetical, the inflaton field, provides a
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