Related papers: Trouble with Physics?
Making use of the wealth of new observational data coming from the sky it is possible to constrain particle physics theories beyond the Standard Model. One way to do this is illustrated in this article: a subset of theories admits cosmic…
These are the commentaries for a volume of reprints of my selected papers with commentaries that I am preparing for publication by World Scientific. Contents: Preface; (1)Early Years, and Condensed Matter Physics; (2) High Energy Neutrino…
Last couple of decades have been the golden age for cosmology. High quality data confirmed the broad paradigm of standard cosmology but have thrusted upon us a preposterous composition for the universe which defies any simple explanation,…
We discuss superstring theory based on the reader's intuition and her college knowledge of general physics and calculus. Nowadays, superstring theory is considered the best candidate to explain physical phenomena that involve all of the…
These lectures describe why one believes there is physics beyond the Standard Model and review the expectations of three alternative explanations for the Fermi scale. After examining constraints and hints for beyond the Standard Model…
Objective: To figure out the underlying physics of QFTs by following the Feynman heuristics lore: I think equation guessing might be the best method to proceed to obtain the laws for the part of physics which is presently unknown.…
The theory of cosmological perturbations is the main tool which connects theories of the early universe (based on new fundamental physics such as string theory) with cosmological observations. In these lectures, I will provide an…
A personal view of current prospectives in particle physics is presented, inspired by the contributions to this meeting. Particular emphasis is laid in precision tests of the Standard Model and the search for the Higgs boson, on probes of…
Particle physics is sometimes described as going through a crisis, notably because of the continued lack of discovery of physics beyond the Standard Model, despite the LHC having operated at close to maximal energy for some years now. Here,…
Quantum theory is incredibly successful, explaining the microscopic world with great accuracy, from the behaviour of subatomic particles to chemical reactions to solid-state electronics. There is not a single experimental finding…
The observational evidence for the acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are incomplete, if not incorrect. Several few-sigma hints of new physics, discussed in this workshop, are…
The search for room-temperature superconducting materials has been at the center of modern research for decades. The recent discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, under extreme pressure in hydrogen-rich materials, is a tremendous…
These notes present a brief introduction to `naturalness' problems in cosmology, and to the Cosmological Constant Problem in particular. The main focus is the `old' cosmological constant problem, though the more recent variants are also…
We extend the recently developed non-gaussian thermodynamic formalism \cite{tre98} of a (presumably strongly turbulent) non-Markovian medium to its most general form that allows for the formulation of a consistent thermodynamic theory. All…
Fundamental particle physics is at a cross road. On the one hand the Standard Model successfully accounts for all experimental observations to date. On the other hand the ElectroWeak symmetry breaking mechanism is poorly understood and…
Cosmology has entered an era of unprecedented precision, yet increasing accuracy has revealed cracks in the standard $\Lambda$CDM paradigm. Although the model remains highly successful when confronted with individual datasets, joint…
Magnon Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) and supercurrents are coherent quantum phenomena, which appear on a macroscopic scale in parametrically populated solid state spinsystems. One of the most fascinating and attractive features of these…
Using the gauge-gravity duality, we argue that for a certain class of out-of-equilibrium steady-state systems in contact with a thermal background at a given temperature, the macroscopic physics can be captured by an effective thermodynamic…
This talk considers possible lessons of string theory for low energy physics. These are of two types. First, assuming that string theory is the correct underlying theory of all interactions, we ask whether there are any generic predictions…
We outline the general features of the conventional mean-field theory for the description of Bose-Einstein condensates at near zero temperatures. This approach, based on a phenomenological model, appears to give excellent agreement with…