Author Archives: woit

Some background on “high energy physics”

Posted on September 16, 2019 by woit

There was a workshop last week at the Harvard CMSA, focusing on new ideas about physics rooted in topology. Talks are available on the workshop webpage, and those interested in high energy physics might be most interested in the ones … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Chasing Einstein

Posted on September 16, 2019 by woit

Last night I went to a showing of Chasing Einstein, a new documentary about the search for dark matter. It’s quite well done, and if you’re near New York, Berkeley or LA, you might want to take the opportunity to … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews | 15 Comments

An Apology

Posted on September 15, 2019 by woit

I’m afraid I made a serious mistake in this previous posting discussing Sean Carroll’s new book. Since the book was relatively reasonable, while the jacket and promotional material that came with it were nonsense, I assumed that Carroll was just … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Mechanics | Comments Off on An Apology

Regarding Papers about Fundamental Theories

Posted on September 9, 2019 by woit

Discussion in the comment section of the previous blog entry led me to do a little bit of historical research this morning, and I thought I’d write up the results here. First of all, for some interesting comments from people … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorite Old Posts, Quantum Mechanics | 26 Comments

Quantum Supremacy II

Posted on September 7, 2019 by woit

About the only thing that has transcended the bitter partisan divisions between Democrats and Republicans in the US during recent years has been quantum mechanics, with the enactment late last year of the National Quantum Initiative Act (the NQI was … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Mechanics | 26 Comments

Some Math News

Posted on August 27, 2019 by woit

My Columbia colleague Patrick Gallagher passed away a few months ago at the age of 84. He had only recently retired, and for many years was the longest serving member of the department and an important part of its institutional … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands, Obituaries | 7 Comments

Something Deeply Hidden

Posted on August 20, 2019 by woit

Sean Carroll’s new (available in stores early September) book, Something Deeply Hidden, is a quite good introduction to issues in the understanding of quantum mechanics, unfortunately wrapped in a book cover and promotional campaign of utter nonsense. Most people won’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania, Quantum Mechanics | 76 Comments

What’s the difference between Copenhagen and Everett?

Posted on August 18, 2019 by woit

I’ve just finished reading Sean Carroll’s forthcoming new book, will write something about it in the next few weeks. Reading the book and thinking about it did clarify various issues for me, and I thought it might be a good … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Mechanics | 27 Comments

Where We Are Now

Posted on August 6, 2019 by woit

For much of the last 25 years, a huge question hanging over the field of fundamental physics has been that of what judgement results from the LHC would provide about supersymmetry, which underpins the most popular speculative ideas in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 48 Comments

Quick Links

Posted on July 24, 2019 by woit

A few quick links: Philip Ball at Quanta has a nice article on “Quantum Darwinism” and experiments designed to exhibit actual toy examples of the idea in action (I don’t think “testing” the idea is quite the right language in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments