Author Archives: woit

ABC is Still a Conjecture

Posted on March 4, 2021 by woit

Just a reminder that the abc conjecture is still a conjecture, there is no known valid proof (don’t believe what you might read in an EMS journal). For more about why one attempted proof doesn’t work, see here and here. … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 78 Comments

Yet More Geometric Langlands News

Posted on February 27, 2021 by woit

It has only been a couple weeks since my last posting on this topic, but there’s quite a bit of new news on the geometric Langlands front. One of the great goals of the subject has always been to bring … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 14 Comments

Isadore Singer 1924-2021

Posted on February 12, 2021 by woit

I was sorry to hear this morning of the death yesterday at the age of 96 of Is Singer, a mathematician who led much of the interaction between mathematics and physics during the 1970s and 1980s. In the early stages … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 9 Comments

Geometric Langlands News

Posted on February 11, 2021 by woit

There’s various news to report on the geometric Langlands front, spanning number theory to quantum field theory: Minhyong Kim has been running an Online Mini-Conference on the Geometric Langlands Correspondence for the past month, and Dennis Gaitsgory has been doing … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 7 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on January 25, 2021 by woit

I had just been thinking the other day about how little one hears recently about the multiverse, with those previously involved in heavy promotion of the idea perhaps having thought better of it. Today however, Quanta has Physicists Study How … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 22 Comments

What is a Spinor?

Posted on January 21, 2021 by woit

Recently Jean-Pierre Bourguignon recently gave the Inaugural Atiyah Lecture, with the title What is a Spinor? The title was a reference to a 2013 talk by Atiyah at the IHES with the same title. Bourguignon’s lecture is not yet online, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Wilczek on the Problems of Fundamental Physics

Posted on January 18, 2021 by woit

Sean Carroll has a new interview up with Frank Wilczek in which they discuss, among other things, the problematic current state of fundamental physics. On the topic of string theory, here’s the discussion: 0:58:34.8 SC: Well, some of this worry … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Is the Standard Model Just an Effective Field Theory?

Posted on January 13, 2021 by woit

An article by Steven Weinberg entitled On the Development of Effective Field Theory appeared on the arXiv last night. It’s based on a talk he gave in September, surveys the history of effective field theories and argues for what I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 45 Comments

Various Links

Posted on January 13, 2021 by woit

Our semester at Columbia started earlier than usual this year, with first classes this week, my first class yesterday. This semester I’m teaching the second half of a year-long course on the mathematics of quantum mechanics. There’s a Youtube channel … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Martin Veltman 1931-2021

Posted on January 6, 2021 by woit

I heard today of the recent death of Martin Veltman, a theorist largely responsible (with his student Gerard ‘t Hooft) for showing the renormalizability of non-abelian gauge theories, a breakthrough crucial to the Standard Model that won both of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 15 Comments