quantum electrodynamics

American  

noun

Physics.

1. the quantum field theory that deals with the electromagnetic field and its interaction with electrons and positrons. QED

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quantum electrodynamics British  

noun

1.  QED.  physics a relativistic quantum mechanical theory concerned with electromagnetic interactions

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quantum electrodynamics Scientific  

1. A quantum field theory of electromagnetism that explains the interactions between electrically charged particles and photons. According to quantum electrodynamics, charged particles interact with one other by emitting or absorbing photons, which are the carriers of the electromagnetic force. Quantum electrodynamics correctly predicts such phenomena as the structure of atoms, and the creation and annihilation of particles (for example, when matter and antimatter collide). Quantum electrodynamics is one of the most well-tested, accurate, and successful theories in physics.

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Etymology

Origin of quantum electrodynamics

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Instead, their magnetic moments remain strongly quantum-entangled and in constant collective motion at temperatures close to absolute zero, producing behavior that resembles emergent quantum electrodynamics.

From Science Daily • Dec. 17, 2025

During a talk at a conference, Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who devised much of quantum electrodynamics, “without much difficulty shot me to pieces, which I deserved,” he said.

From New York Times • May 8, 2023

The first thing Mr. Dyson did was write down the conclusions he had reached on his cross-country bus ride, and those concepts evolved into his paper on quantum electrodynamics.

From Washington Post • Feb. 28, 2020

The history of physics of course features successive “leaps” and unifications: Newton, Maxwell, Einstein, quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, and the “standard model.”

From Scientific American • Mar. 17, 2018

This caused a lot of trouble when the theory of quantum electrodynamics first came out.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife