Related papers: Spin, Mass, and Symmetry
This article is a short introduction to the general topic of quantum spin systems. After a brief sketch of the history of the subject, the standard mathematical framework for formulating problems and results in quantum spin systems is…
This is a draft version of Part I of a three-part textbook on quantum field theory.
This is a draft version of Part II of a three-part textbook on quantum field theory.
Quantum field theory has formed the conceptual framework of most of physics for more than sixty years. It incorporates a complete revision of our conception of the nature of matter and existence itself. Yet it is rarely taught, or even…
Spin is commonly thought to reflect the true quantum nature of microphysics. We show that spin is related to intrinsic and field-like properties of single particles. These properties change continuously in external magnetic fields.…
We give a leisurely, albeit woefully incomplete, overview of quantum field theory, its relevance to condensed matter systems, and spin systems, which proceeds via a series of illustrative examples. The goal is to provide readers from the…
This is an extended and corrected version of lecture notes originally written for a one semester course at Leibniz University Hannover. The main aim of the notes is to give an introduction to the mathematical methods used in describing…
This is a collection of my lecture notes on the higher-spin theory course given for students at the Institute for Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University. The goal of these lectures is to give an introduction…
We review main features and problems of higher spin field theory and flash some ways along which it has been developed over last decades.
I introduce spin in field theory by emphasizing the close connection between quantum field theory and quantum mechanics. First, I show that the spin-statistics connection can be derived in quantum mechanics without relativity or field…
It is substantiated that spin is a notion associated with the group of internal symmetry that is tightly connected with the geometrical structure of spacetime. The wave equation for the description of the particles with spin one half is…
En nous laissant guider par la notion de champ qui en fait domine toute la physique nous d\'efinissons la nature physique d'un syst\`eme, ses propri\'et\'es et ses \'etats possibles. Nous proposons alors un cadre tr\`es g\'en\'erale…
The paper outlines the historical development of spin in physics from about 1920 to the present day. It aims to provide the student with an accurate chronology of important developments, both scientific and technical.
This is a late answer to question #79 by R.I. Khrapko, "Does plane wave not carry a spin?," Am. J. Phys. /69/, 405 (2001), and a complement (on gauge invariance, massive spin 1 and 1/2, and massless spin 2 fields) to the paper by H.C.…
I describe our understanding of physics near the Planck length, in particular the great progress in the last four years in string theory. These are lectures presented at the 1998 SLAC Summer Institute.
In this paper, we use methods from differential geometry and statistical mechanics to investigate a model for the concept of mass. The theory is not quantum mechanical in the usual sense, although certain features like multiple histories…
In these notes we review the role played by the quantum mechanics and sigma models of symmetric product spaces in the light-cone quantization of quantum field theories, string theory and matrix theory. Lectures given at the Institute for…
Spin networks, essentially labeled graphs, are ``good quantum numbers'' for the quantum theory of geometry. These structures encompass a diverse range of techniques which may be used in the quantum mechanics of finite dimensional systems,…
The spin foam framework provides a way to define the dynamics of canonical loop quantum gravity in a spacetime covariant way, by using a path integral over histories of quantum states which can be interpreted as `quantum space-times'. This…
What follows is a broad-brush overview of the recent synergistic interactions between mathematics and theoretical physics of quantum field theory and string theory. The discussion is forward-looking, suggesting potentially useful and…