renormalization – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 How Mathematical ‘Hocus-Pocus’ Saved Particle Physics https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-renormalization-saved-particle-physics-20200917/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-renormalization-saved-particle-physics-20200917/#respond Thu, 17 Sep 2020 13:40:51 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=92348 The post How Mathematical ‘Hocus-Pocus’ Saved Particle Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In the 1940s, trailblazing physicists stumbled upon the next layer of reality. Particles were out, and fields — expansive, undulating entities that fill space like an ocean — were in. One ripple in a field would be an electron, another a photon, and interactions between them seemed to explain all electromagnetic events. There was just one problem: The theory was glued together with hopes and...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-renormalization-saved-particle-physics-20200917/feed/ 0 To Solve the Biggest Mystery in Physics, Join Two Kinds of Law https://www.quantamagazine.org/to-solve-the-biggest-mystery-in-physics-join-two-kinds-of-law-20170907/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/to-solve-the-biggest-mystery-in-physics-join-two-kinds-of-law-20170907/#respond Thu, 07 Sep 2017 12:48:16 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=50812 The post To Solve the Biggest Mystery in Physics, Join Two Kinds of Law first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Suppose aliens land on our planet and want to learn our current scientific knowledge. I would start with the 40-year-old documentary Powers of Ten. Granted, it’s a bit out of date, but this short film, written and directed by the famous designer couple Charles and Ray Eames, captures in less than 10 minutes a comprehensive view of the cosmos. The script is simple and elegant. When the film begins...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/to-solve-the-biggest-mystery-in-physics-join-two-kinds-of-law-20170907/feed/ 0 A Brazilian Wunderkind Who Calms Chaos https://www.quantamagazine.org/artur-avila-is-first-brazilian-mathematician-to-win-fields-medal-20140812/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/artur-avila-is-first-brazilian-mathematician-to-win-fields-medal-20140812/#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2014 19:04:42 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=12723 The post A Brazilian Wunderkind Who Calms Chaos first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> It was pouring rain on a chilly spring day, and Artur Avila was marooned at the University of Paris Jussieu campus, minus the jacket he had misplaced before boarding a red-eye from Chicago. “Let’s wait,” said the Brazilian mathematician in a sleep-deprived drawl, his snug black T-shirt revealing the approximate physique of a sturdy World Cup midfielder. “I don’t want to get sick.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/artur-avila-is-first-brazilian-mathematician-to-win-fields-medal-20140812/feed/ 24 A ‘Rebel’ Without a Ph.D. https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-math-puzzle-worthy-of-freeman-dyson-20140326/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-math-puzzle-worthy-of-freeman-dyson-20140326/#comments Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:08:29 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=10051 The post A ‘Rebel’ Without a Ph.D. first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Freeman Dyson — the world-renowned mathematical physicist who helped found quantum electrodynamics with the bongo-playing, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman and others, devised numerous mathematical techniques, led the team that designed a low-power nuclear reactor that produces medical isotopes for research hospitals, dreamed of exploring the solar system in spaceships propelled by...

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