Physical and Mathematical Aspects of Symmetries


Book Description

This proceedings records the 31st International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (“Group 31”). Plenary-invited articles propose new approaches to the moduli spaces in gauge theories (V. Pestun, 2016 Weyl Prize Awardee), the phenomenology of neutrinos in non-commutative space-time, the use of Hardy spaces in quantum physics, contradictions in the use of statistical methods on complex systems, and alternative models of supersymmetry. This volume’s survey articles broaden the colloquia’s scope out into Majorana neutrino behavior, the dynamics of radiating charges, statistical pattern recognition of amino acids, and a variety of applications of gauge theory, among others. This year’s proceedings further honors Bertram Kostant (2016 Wigner Medalist), as well as S.T. Ali and L. Boyle, for their life-long contributions to the math and physics communities. The aim of the ICGTMP is to provide a forum for physicists, mathematicians, and scientists of related disciplines who develop or apply methods in group theory to share their research. The 31st ICGTMP was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 19th to June 25th, 2016. This was the first time that a colloquium of the prestigious and traditional ICGTMP series (which started in 1972 in Marseille, France) took place in South America. (The history of the colloquia can be found at http://icgtmp.blogs.uva.es/)




GROUP 24


Book Description

One of the most enduring elements in theoretical physics has been group theory. GROUP 24: Physical and Mathematical Aspects of Symmetries provides an important selection of informative articles describing recent advances in the field. The applications of group theory presented in this book deal not only with the traditional fields of physics, but a




Aspects of Symmetry


Book Description

For almost two decades, Sidney Coleman has been giving review lectures on frontier topics in theoretical high-energy physics at the International School of Subnuclear Physics held each year at Erice, Sicily. This volume is a collection of some of the best of these lectures. To this day they have few rivals for clarity of exposition and depth of insight. Although very popular when first published, many of the lectures have been difficult to obtain recently. Graduate students and professionals in high-energy physics will welcome this collection by a master of the field.




Symmetry and the Standard Model


Book Description

While theoretical particle physics is an extraordinarily fascinating field, the incredibly fast pace at which it moves along, combined with the huge amount of background information necessary to perform cutting edge research, poses a formidable challenge for graduate students. This book represents the first in a series designed to assist students in the process of transitioning from coursework to research in particle physics. Rather than reading literally dozens of physics and mathematics texts, trying to assimilate the countless ideas, translate notations and perspectives, and see how it all fits together to get a holistic understanding, this series provides a detailed overview of the major mathematical and physical ideas in theoretical particle physics. Ultimately the ideas will be presented in a unified, consistent, holistic picture, where each topic is built firmly on what has come before, and all topics are related in a clear and intuitive way. This introductory text on quantum field theory and particle physics provides both a self-contained and complete introduction to not only the necessary physical ideas, but also a complete introduction to the necessary mathematical tools. Assuming minimal knowledge of undergraduate physics and mathematics, this book lays both the mathematical and physical groundwork with clear, intuitive explanations and plenty of examples. The book then continues with an exposition of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, the theory that currently seems to explain the universe apart from gravity. Furthermore, this book was written as a primer for the more advanced mathematical and physical ideas to come later in this series.




The Symmetries of Things


Book Description

Start with a single shape. Repeat it in some way—translation, reflection over a line, rotation around a point—and you have created symmetry. Symmetry is a fundamental phenomenon in art, science, and nature that has been captured, described, and analyzed using mathematical concepts for a long time. Inspired by the geometric intuition of Bill Thurston and empowered by his own analytical skills, John Conway, with his coauthors, has developed a comprehensive mathematical theory of symmetry that allows the description and classification of symmetries in numerous geometric environments. This richly and compellingly illustrated book addresses the phenomenological, analytical, and mathematical aspects of symmetry on three levels that build on one another and will speak to interested lay people, artists, working mathematicians, and researchers.




Symmetry Breaking


Book Description

The third edition of the by now classic reference on rigorous analysis of symmetry breaking in both classical and quantum field theories adds new topics of relevance, in particular the effect of dynamical Coulomb delocalization, by which boundary conditions give rise to volume effects and to energy/mass gap in the Goldstone spectrum (plasmon spectrum, Anderson superconductivity, Higgs phenomenon). The book closes with a discussion of the physical meaning of global and local gauge symmetries and their breaking, with attention to the effect of gauge group topology in QCD. From the reviews of the first edition: It is remarkable to see how much material can actually be presented in a rigorous way (incidentally, many of the results presented are due to Strocchi himself), yet this is largely ignored, the original heuristic derivations being, as a rule, more popular. - At each step he strongly emphasizes the physical meaning and motivation of the various notions introduced [...] a book that fills a conspicuous gap in the literature, and does it rather well. It could also be a good basis for a graduate course in mathematical physics. J.-P. Antoine, Physicalia 28/2, 2006 Despite many accounts in popular textbooks and a widespread belief, the phenomenon is rather subtle, requires an infinite set of degrees of freedom and an advanced mathematical setting of the system under investigation. [...] The mathematically oriented graduate student will certainly benefit from this thorough, rigorous and detailed investigation. G. Roepstorff, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1075, 2006 From the reviews of the second edition: This second edition of Strocchi’s Symmetry Breaking presents a complete, generalized and highly rigorous discussion of the subject, based on a formal analysis of conditions necessary for the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking to occur in classical systems, as well as in quantum systems. [...] This book is specifically recommended for mathematical physicists interested in a deeper and rigorous understanding of the subject, and it should be mandatory for researchers studying the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking. S. Hajjawi, Mathematical Reviews, 2008




Quantum Theory and Symmetries


Book Description

This volume of the CRM Conference Series is based on a carefully refereed selection of contributions presented at the "11th International Symposium on Quantum Theory and Symmetries", held in Montreal, Canada from July 1-5, 2019. The main objective of the meeting was to share and make accessible new research and recent results in several branches of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, including Algebraic Methods, Condensed Matter Physics, Cosmology and Gravitation, Integrability, Non-perturbative Quantum Field Theory, Particle Physics, Quantum Computing and Quantum Information Theory, and String/ADS-CFT. There was also a special session in honour of Decio Levi. The volume is divided into sections corresponding to the sessions held during the symposium, allowing the reader to appreciate both the homogeneity and the diversity of mathematical tools that have been applied in these subject areas. Several of the plenary speakers, who are internationally recognized experts in their fields, have contributed reviews of the main topics to complement the original contributions. .




Why Beauty Is Truth


Book Description

Physics.




Symmetry in Physics


Book Description

Papers in this volume are based on the Workshop on Symmetries in Physics held at the Centre de recherches mathematiques (University of Montreal) in memory of Robert T. Sharp. Contributed articles are on a variety of topics revolving around the theme of symmetry in physics. The preface presents a biographical and scientific retrospect of the life and work of Robert Sharp. Other articles in the volume represent his diverse range of interests, including representation theoretic methods for Lie algebras, quantization techniques and foundational considerations, modular group invariants and applications to conformal models, various physical models and equations, geometric calculations with symmetries, and pedagogical methods for developing spatio-temporal intuition. The book is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in group theoretic methods, symmetries, and mathematical physics.




Physics from Symmetry


Book Description

This is a textbook that derives the fundamental theories of physics from symmetry. It starts by introducing, in a completely self-contained way, all mathematical tools needed to use symmetry ideas in physics. Thereafter, these tools are put into action and by using symmetry constraints, the fundamental equations of Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Field Theory, Electromagnetism, and Classical Mechanics are derived. As a result, the reader is able to understand the basic assumptions behind, and the connections between the modern theories of physics. The book concludes with first applications of the previously derived equations. Thanks to the input of readers from around the world, this second edition has been purged of typographical errors and also contains several revised sections with improved explanations.