Author Archives: woit

Arthur Wightman 1922-2013

Posted on January 30, 2013 by woit

I just heard today that mathematical physicist Arthur Wightman passed away earlier this month, at the age of 90. Wightman was one of the leading figures in the field of rigorous quantum field theory, the effort to try and make … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 38 Comments

This Week’s Finds

Posted on January 26, 2013 by woit

Twenty years ago this past week, John Baez posted the first of his “This Week’s Finds in Mathematical Physics” to the sci.physics newsgroups, inaugurating internet blogging about Mathematical Physics, many years before anyone even knew what a blog was. For … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Short Book Reviews

Posted on January 24, 2013 by woit

There’s now a fairly long list of books that I’ve found worthwhile recently and wanted to write about here, making it unlikely I’ll have time to write in detail about them. Instead, here are some short reviews: More than seven … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 16 Comments

The Anatomy of a Scientific Gossip

Posted on January 23, 2013 by woit

The University of Birmingham has put out a press release today about new research by their computer scientists, on the topic of the spread of gossip about the Higgs via Twitter. This is all based on an arXiv paper, The … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

CERN Briefing Book

Posted on January 18, 2013 by woit

This year the US and European HEP communities are engaging in exercises designed to put together plans for the future. In the US it’s Snowmass 2013, leading up to a big meeting in Minneapolis this summer. This past week has … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 7 Comments

What *Should* We Be Worried About?

Posted on January 14, 2013 by woit

Back from vacation today, so regular blogging likely to resume. Will start with something quick, a link to material that was posted today. The Edge web-site annual question feature is out today, with this year’s question What *Should* We Be … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 59 Comments

East Coast versus West Coast

Posted on December 26, 2012 by woit

Back when I was a student I remember learning that there were two possible sign conventions to use for the Minkowski space metric: the “East coast” one, mostly + signs, favored by relativists and Steven Weinberg, and the “West coast” … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 35 Comments

Various Links

Posted on December 19, 2012 by woit

This week there’s a conference in Oxford I’d have loved to have been at. Slides from some of the talks are already posted here. The conference is in honor of Graeme Segal’s 70th birthday. Happy Birthday Graeme! Physics Today has … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments

Quantum Mechanics Fall Class Lecture Notes

Posted on December 14, 2012 by woit

Classes are over for the semester, and I’ve put together the lecture notes for my undergraduate “Quantum Mechanics for Mathematicians” course, which are available here. The idea for the course was to try and explain the basics of quantum mechanics, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 38 Comments

Arkani-Hamed on Naturalness

Posted on December 13, 2012 by woit

For the latest SUSY enthusiast take on the implications of what the LHC has been (not) seeing, your best bet might be yesterday’s talk at the KITP by Nima Arkani-Hamed on Naturalness. An hour and 40 minutes, no slides, nothing … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments