Nobel Lecture: Asymptotic freedom: From paradox to paradigm
Abstract
Asymptotic freedom was developed as a response to two paradoxes: the weirdness of quarks, and in particular their failure to radiate copiously when struck; and the coexistence of special relativity and quantum theory, despite the apparent singularity of quantum field theory. It resolved these paradoxes, and catalyzed the development of several modern paradigms: the hard reality of quarks and gluons, the origin of mass from energy, the simplicity of the early universe, and the power of symmetry as a guide to physical law.
- Publication:
-
Reviews of Modern Physics
- Pub Date:
- July 2005
- DOI:
- 10.1103/RevModPhys.77.857
- arXiv:
- arXiv:hep-ph/0502113
- Bibcode:
- 2005RvMP...77..857W
- Keywords:
-
- 98.80.Cq;
- 12.40.-y;
- 11.10.-z;
- Particle-theory and field-theory models of the early Universe;
- Other models for strong interactions;
- Field theory;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology;
- High Energy Physics - Experiment;
- High Energy Physics - Lattice;
- High Energy Physics - Theory;
- Nuclear Theory
- E-Print:
- 26 pages, 10 figures. Lecture on receipt of the 2004 Nobel Prize. v2: typo (in Ohm's law) corrected