Author Archives: woit

Quantum Theory is Representation Theory

Posted on August 16, 2014 by woit

For a first slogan (see here for slogan zero) I’ve chosen: Quantum theory is representation theory. One aspect of what I’m referring to is explained in detail in chapter 14 of these notes. Whenever you have a classical phase space … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorite Old Posts, Quantum Mechanics | 43 Comments

Smashing Physics

Posted on August 14, 2014 by woit

I recently finally found a copy of Jon Butterworth’s Smashing Physics, which came out in the UK a few months ago, but still hasn’t made it to the US. As far as I know it’s the first book about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 5 Comments

2014 Fields Medals

Posted on August 12, 2014 by woit

I thought this wasn’t supposed to be announced until late this evening New York time, but the Fields Medal announcement is now online. The winners are: Artur Avila Manjul Bhargava Martin Hairer Maryam Mirzakhani Mirzakhani is the first woman to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 53 Comments

What’s Hard to Understand is Classical Mechanics, Not Quantum Mechanics

Posted on August 11, 2014 by woit

For a zeroth slogan about quantum mechanics, I’ve chosen What’s hard to understand is classical mechanics, not quantum mechanics. The slogan is labeled by zero because it’s preliminary to what I’ve been writing about here. It explains why I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorite Old Posts, Quantum Mechanics | 46 Comments

Fall QM Course

Posted on August 11, 2014 by woit

This year I’ll be teaching a new version of the same course on quantum mechanics aimed at mathematicians that I taught during the 2012-3 academic year (there’s a web-page here). During the last course I started writing up notes, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Mechanics | 8 Comments

Quantum Connection Could Revitalize Superstrings

Posted on August 4, 2014 by woit

Finally back from vacation, postings may appear somewhat more regularly… Science journalist Tom Siegfried has been one of the most vociferous proponents of string theory for many, many years (see here), but even his faith seems like it might be … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 22 Comments

The NSA, NIST and the AMS

Posted on July 21, 2014 by woit

Among the many disturbing aspects of the behavior of the NSA revealed by the Snowden documents, the most controversial one directly relevant to mathematicians was the story of the NSA’s involvement in a flawed NIST cryptography standard (for more see … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments

Mathematics Items

Posted on July 16, 2014 by woit

For an Oxford conference last week, Langlands contributed a one-hour video talk, filmed in his office. One hour was not enough, so hours two and three are also available, as well as a separate text, and some additional comments. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 23 Comments

String Theory and Post-Empiricism

Posted on July 10, 2014 by woit

Note: This is being published simultaneously here and at Scientia Salon. Discussion will be at the Scientia Salon site. Last month’s Strings 2014 conference in Princeton included two remarkable talks by prominent physicists, both of whom invoked philosophy in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorite Old Posts, Uncategorized | Comments Off on String Theory and Post-Empiricism

Quick Links

Posted on July 8, 2014 by woit

Jim Simons is profiled in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, the New York Times today. The WSJ piece is partly about a recent $50 million donation to the Simons Center for Quantitative Biology at Cold Spring Harbor, but it reports … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments