Peter Woit
About Me
I'm currently a Senior Lecturer in the Mathematics department at
Columbia University, where I teach, do research, and am responsible
for the department Computer system. For the past couple years,
I've also been our Calculus Director, coordinating Calculus teaching
and implementing our use of the WebAssign online homework system in
some of the Calculus classes.
My academic background includes undergraduate and master's degrees
in physics from Harvard, a Ph.D. in particle theory from Princeton,
and postdocs in physics (ITP Stony Brook) and mathematics (MSRI
Berkeley). I've been at Columbia since 1989, starting here as
Ritt assistant professor.
Teaching
Current course:
Mathematics
W4392: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (continuation)
Older courses:
Mathematics
W4391: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (Fall 2012)
Mathematics
G4344: Lie Groups and Representations (Spring 2012)
Mathematics
G4343-4: Lie Groups and Representations (Fall 2007-Spring 2008)
Mathematics
G4344: Lie Groups and Representations (Spring 2007)
Mathematics
V1202:
Calculus IV
Mathematics
G4402-3:
Modern Geometry
Mathematics
G6434: Quantum Field Theory and Geometry
Mathematics
G4344:
Lie Groups and Representations (Spring 2003)
Research
My general area of research interest is the relationship between
mathematics (especially representation theory) and fundamental
physics (especially quantum field theories like the Standard
Model). Recently I've been working more specifically on
understanding whether certain quantum field theories can usefully be
formulated in terms of a generalization of the notion of an
"automorphic representation", which is central to the Langlands
program in number theory.
Quantum
Field Theory and Representation Theory: A Sketch
Posted at www.arxiv.org as hep-th/0206135
June 2002.
BRST
and Dirac Cohomology (draft version).
Quantum Field Theory and Automorphic Representations (in progress).
Blog
Since 2004 I've maintained
an active blog called Not Even
Wrong, which deals with topics in physics and
mathematics. At the end of 2011 it had 13,378 subscribers at
Google Reader. It now contains over 1000 postings that may be
of some sort of interest.
Book
My book Not
Even Wrong was published in June 2006 in England by Jonathan
Cape, in the US in September 2006 by Basic Books. Translations
have appeared in French, Italian, Czech and Korean. I'm
maintaining web-pages for links
to reviews, and errata.
Some Popular Articles
String
Theory: An Evaluation
Posted at www.arxiv.org as physics/010251
February 2001.
Is
string
theory even wrong?
Published in the March-April 2002 issue of American Scientist.
The
problem with physics
Cosmos Magazine, August 2007
String
Theory and the Crisis in Particle Physics
Based on a talk at the Gulbenkian Foundation Conference in Lisbon on
Is Science Nearing Its Limits?
25-26 October 2007. This appears in the conference proceedings
volume, available here.
Ancient material from the string theory controversy
Some reactions
to these articles, various outrages,
and a few voices of
reason.
Anyone interested in a bet?
Talks
For technical audiences
Transparencies
from a talk on Quantization and
Equivariant K-theory at the Wigner Conference in New York,
May 27, 2003.
Slides from
a
talk on Quantum Field Theory and
Representation Theory at the Dartmouth Math department,
June 3, 2004.
Slides
from talks on Is String Theory
Testable?, March 8 (INFN Rome) and March 15 (INFN
Pisa), 2007.
Slides
from a talk on BRST and Dirac
Cohomology at Dartmouth, October 23, 2008.
For popular audiences
Slides
from a talk to students at Collin College, March 24, 2010.
TEDxFlanders
talk. Joint performance with Tommaso Dorigo at the
Antwerp Opera House on September 24, 2011.
Interviews, podcasts, etc.
Interview
with John Horgan 2006.
Bloggingheads
conversation with Sabine Hossenfelder, July 9. 2008.
Bloggingheads
conversation with Craig Callendar, September 10, 2009.
Rationally
Speaking. April 2010.
Big Think. June 6,
2010.
Book Reviews
I've written quite a few book reviews on the blog, the ones from the
past few years are easily accessible here.
Some reviews I've written for publication include:
Grappling
with Quantum Weirdness, American Scientist, September-October
2005. Review of Giancarlo Ghirardi's Sneaking a Look at God's Cards.
What
Happens In the Dark, Wall Street Journal, January 31,
2011. Review of Richard Panek's The 4% Universe.
In
the End Is the Beginning, Wall Street Journal, May 27,
2011. Review of Roger Penrose's Cycles of Time.
Fun
with Fysiks, American Scientist, July-August 2011.
Review of David Kaiser's How the
Hippies Saved Physics.
