Author Archives: woit

Various Links

Posted on June 16, 2015 by woit

Ordered from the more to less serious… On the geometric Langlands front, there’s video posted today of this talk by Dennis Gaitsgory. Michael Harris has already commented here about the local geometric Langlands conjecture in terms of 2-categories that Gaitsgory … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

CMB@50

Posted on June 14, 2015 by woit

Last week Princeton hosted what seems to have been a fascinating conference, celebrating the 50th anniversary of studies of the CMB. Hopefully videos and slides will be posted, but one can get some idea of the highlights of the talks … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 15 Comments

A View from an Ex-String Theorist

Posted on June 9, 2015 by woit

Every so often I’ve taken a look at something about theoretical physics on Reddit, generally ending up not spending much time there. One reason was that I realize I’m already spending more of my life than is healthy arguing with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 38 Comments

A Crisis at the (Western) Edge of Physics

Posted on June 9, 2015 by woit

The New York Times had an op-ed piece this weekend by Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser, entitled A Crisis at the Edge of Physics. They make some of the usual criticisms of string theory and the multiverse, ending with Are … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 23 Comments

The West Coast Metric is the Wrong One

Posted on June 5, 2015 by woit

I’m trying to get back to blogging about quantum mechanics slogans, this one is about relativistic quantum mechanics. I’m hoping it will stir up more trouble than my last East vs. West one. If you’re doing calculations in relativistic quantum … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorite Old Posts | 61 Comments

LHC Run 2

Posted on June 2, 2015 by woit

Run 2 of the LHC is about to start with first stable beams scheduled for Wednesday morning, Geneva time). If you’re up (I’ll be asleep) you can watch a live webcast, or watch what is going on here. The current … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 43 Comments

The Nash Musings

Posted on May 28, 2015 by woit

Since the news of the tragic death recently of John Nash and his wife in an automobile accident last weekend, some of those who were at Princeton during the same time I was (late 70s, early 80s) have been exchanging … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 22 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on May 27, 2015 by woit

I’m busy with other things, so no possible way I can keep up with the claims about string theory flooding the media for some reason these days. It’s hard enough to find the time to read all of this, much … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 22 Comments

John Nash 1928-2015

Posted on May 24, 2015 by woit

I was sorry to hear this morning that John Nash and his wife Alicia died yesterday in a car crash (news story here). They were in a taxi on the New Jersey Turnpike, heading home from the airport after a … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 20 Comments

Various News

Posted on May 19, 2015 by woit

First test collisions at 6.5 TeV/beam at the LHC are tentatively scheduled for Thursday morning. At CERN today there’s a workshop about the Higgs Machine Learning Challenge. Also on the topic of LHC data analysis news, Tommaso Dorigo announces the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments