  Although the Standard Model of particle physics is usually formulated in
terms of fields, it can be equivalently formulated in terms of particles and
strings. In this picture particles and open strings are always coupled. This
offers an intuitive and graphical explanation for the otherwise mysterious
gauge symmetry. In addition, the particle-string formulation avoids introducing
redundant path integral configurations that are present in the field
formulation. For its explanatory power and economy, the particle-string
ontology may be preferred over the field ontology for the Standard Model.
