Related papers: Joseph Polchinski: A Biographical Memoir
After some brief biographical notes, Wolfgang Pauli's main contributions to general relativity, quantum theory, quantum field theory, and elementary particle physics are reviewed. A detailed description is given how Pauli descovered -…
Quantum theory and relativity are the pillar theories on which our understanding of physics is based. Poincar\'e invariance is a fundamental physical principle stating that the experimental results must be the same in all inertial reference…
We establish that Polchinski's equation for exact renormalization group flow is equivalent to the optimal transport gradient flow of a field-theoretic relative entropy. This provides a compelling information-theoretic formulation of the…
We give a pedagogical introduction into an old, but unfortunately not commonly known formulation of GR in terms of self-dual two-forms due to in particular Jerzy Plebanski. Our presentation is rather explicit in that we show how the…
In a recent essay, we discussed the possibility of using polymer sizing to model the collapse of a single, long excited string to a black hole. In this letter, we apply this idea to bring further support to string/black hole correspondence.…
A seminar given about 30 years ago by Ruben Aldrovandi motivates this text where some reflexions about constructing theories that modify General Relativity are made. Two particular cases, the Brans-Dicke and Unimodular Gravity ones, are…
The book presents ideas by H. Poincare and H. Minkowski according to those the essence and the main content of the relativity theory are the following: the space and time form a unique four-dimensional continuum supplied by the…
In a recent work we have argued that nosy energy momentum diffusion due to space-time discreteness at the Planck scale (naturally expected to arise from quantum gravity) can be responsible for the generation of a cosmological constant…
In the light of his recent (and fully deserved) Nobel Prize, this pedagogical paper draws attention to a fundamental tension that drove Penrose's work on general relativity. His 1965 singularity theorem (for which he got the prize) does not…
We review selected achievements of the late Bogdan Mielnik in the field of theoretical physics, with an emphasis on his attempts to go beyond quantum mechanics. Some of his original views on the problems of contemporary society and…
For over a century Minkowskian spacetime has dominated discussions of space contraction and time dilation within special relativity. Brown and Pooley have called into question both the assumptions of Minkowski and the effects his presumed…
David Olive, who died in Barton, Cambridgeshire, on 7 November 2012, aged 75, was a theoretical physicist who made seminal contributions to the development of string theory and to our understanding of the structure of quantum field theory.…
We investigate the Polchinski ERG equation for d-dimensional O(N) scalar field theory. In the context of the non-perturbative derivative expansion we find families of regular solutions and establish their relation with the physical fixed…
Bringing gravity into a quantum-mechanical framework is likely the most profound remaining problem in fundamental physics. The "unitarity crisis" for black hole evolution appears to be a key facet of this problem, whose resolution will…
Over fourty years ago, the physicist Polyakov proposed a bold framework for string theory, in which the problem was reduced to the study of certain "random surfaces". He further made the tantalising suggestion that this theory could be…
Point-particle dynamics is reformulated as a field theory. This is achieved by using the unfolded dynamics approach that makes it possible to give dynamical interpretation to the concept of physical dimension which is 1 for a point particle…
Wolfgang Priester was one of Germany's most versatile and quixotic astrophysicists, re-inventing himself successively as a radio astronomer, space physicist and cosmologist, and making a lasting impact on each field. We focus in this…
This is a careful examination of the key components of a large $N$ random matrix model method for going beyond ordinary JT gravity's topological expansion to define non-perturbative physics. It is offered as a simple and (hopefully) clear…
In the classical vacuum Maxwell-Lorentz theory the self-force of a charged point particle is infinite. This makes classical mass renormalization necessary and, in the special relativistic domain, leads to the Abraham-Lorentz-Dirac equation…
As a contribution requested by the editors of a Memorial Volume for Peter G.O. Freund (1936-2018), we recall the lively particle theory group at the Enrico Fermi Institute of the University of Chicago in the late sixties, of which Peter was…