Monthly Archives: May 2012

25 Years of Topological Quantum Field Theory

Posted on May 31, 2012 by woit

It occurred to me today that right about now is the time someone should have chosen as the date for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the birth of the idea of “Topological Quantum Field Theory”, as well as … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorite Old Posts, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Friedrich Hirzebruch 1927-2012

Posted on May 29, 2012 by woit

The German mathematician Friedrich (Fritz) Hirzebruch passed away a couple days ago, at the age of 84. Hirzebruch was perhaps the most important mathematician in the Germany of the postwar period, responsible for the founding of the Max Planck Institute … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 10 Comments

Welcome to the Multiverse

Posted on May 21, 2012 by woit

Multiverse Mania makes the big time this week, with a cover story Welcome to the Multiverse by Brian Greene in Newsweek. While the title indicates that the Multiverse is here and part of our scientific world-view, the subtitle is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 94 Comments

Higgs Update

Posted on May 21, 2012 by woit

The announcement of new Higgs results from the LHC is now scheduled for about a month and a half from now, July 7th, 9:30 and 10am Melbourne time, at ICHEP2012. The LHC is performing well, with nearly 2.5 fb-1 of … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 15 Comments

Latest from the Rumor Mill

Posted on May 16, 2012 by woit

There’s at least one thing about string theory that has changed dramatically since my book was written back in 2002 or so. At the time I accumulated various numbers showing the way hiring in particle theory at leading institutions in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 26 Comments

The Smell of SUSY

Posted on May 16, 2012 by woit

The implications of the failure to find SUSY at the LHC are beginning to sink into the particle physics community: the paradigm that dominated the subject for the past 30 years has collapsed in the face of experimental (non)-evidence, threatening … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 19 Comments

Igor Frenkel 60th Birthday Conference

Posted on May 14, 2012 by woit

This week Yale is hosting a conference on Perspectives in Representation Theory, in honor of Igor Frenkel’s 60th birthday. I’m planning to take the train up there and attend some of the talks tomorrow and Wednesday. Frenkel has been a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Why Does the World Exist?

Posted on May 9, 2012 by woit

With a lot of attention these days (see here for instance) going to an argument between philosophers and physicists about the “Why is there Something rather than Nothing?” question, this is the perfect time for Jim Holt’s new book Why … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 45 Comments

Phenomenology 2012

Posted on May 8, 2012 by woit

This week at the University of Pittsburgh the Phenomenology 2012 Symposium has talks reviewing the current situation in particle physics phenomenology. Not much new, but there is one plenary talk on string phenomenology, Cumrun Vafa’s Stringy Predictions for Particle Physics. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Half Hour to Midnight

Posted on May 5, 2012 by woit

Matt Strassler posts here about a recent panel discussion of phenomenologists talking about the implications of the latest results from the LHC. You can listen to the thing for yourself, and see what Matt has to say at his blog, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 51 Comments