Author Archives: woit

First Collisions of Run 2

Posted on May 5, 2015 by woit

This morning in Geneva saw the first collisions in the revamped LHC, there’s an event display from ATLAS here, CMS here. These collisions are just at the injection energy of 450 GeV/beam, but over the past few weeks beams have … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | Comments Off on First Collisions of Run 2

Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat

Posted on May 2, 2015 by woit

I’ve written a review for the Wall Street Journal of Paul Halpern’s new book Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat (It’s here, unfortunately now behind a paywall [commenter advice is try googling “The Half-life of physicists” and using the Google link]). … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 15 Comments

Dreams of a Final (or Better) Theory

Posted on May 1, 2015 by woit

John Horgan has an interesting interview with Steven Weinberg here. Weinberg isn’t very optimistic about possible progress these days: Horgan: In 1995 you told me that it’s a “terrible time for particle physics.” Are you feeling any better about your … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 21 Comments

Things Have Changed

Posted on April 24, 2015 by woit

I’ve been busy with other things, but after taking a look today at various new things related to quantum gravity, I was struck by how much things have changed sociologically in that subject over the last few years. Back in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 59 Comments

The Lady Gaga of French Mathematicians Comes Stateside, and Other News

Posted on April 15, 2015 by woit

Cédric Villani is in town today, giving a talk at the French consulate. He’ll discuss his book, recently translated into English (I wrote a bit about it here). Yesterday, despite the lack of suitable bread and cheese, he was in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments

LHC News

Posted on April 9, 2015 by woit

The LHC has just ramped up for the first time to 6.5 TeV, and has a probe beam circulating in one direction, the highest energy protons humans have ever accelerated. You can follow what’s happening here. The BBC has gotten … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments

News of the Multiverse

Posted on April 8, 2015 by woit

Just about ten years ago, my April 1 posting here was a fantasy about the Stanford ITP getting major funding from the Templeton Foundation, using it to fund a program on the multiverse, and renaming themselves the Stanford Templeton Research … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 35 Comments

Various News

Posted on March 31, 2015 by woit

Some news from all over: The problem with a short in the LHC seems to have been resolved (one can follow progress here), looks like they’ll be ready to inject a beam in a few days. Also looks like they’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 32 Comments

Back from Break

Posted on March 24, 2015 by woit

Clouds cleared about 15 minutes too late at Torshavn in the Faroe Islands, so totality was behind a cloud, but still an impressive sight. And the Faroe Islands are quite a remarkable place to visit. Some recent news: The plan … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 33 Comments

Spring Break

Posted on March 11, 2015 by woit

I’m heading off soon on spring break, planning on traveling to Scandinavia and hoping to see a solar eclipse. There hasn’t been much news recently from the math and physics worlds, and it’s unlikely I’ll be blogging until I get … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments