Author Archives: woit

Osterwalder-Schrader and Euclidean Spinor Fields

Posted on February 28, 2026 by woit

If one tries to Wick rotate a quantum field theory with spinor fields, it’s well-known that problems arise, something first recognized in Schwinger’s earliest papers on the subject. I’ll try and outline here the 1972 proposal by Osterwalder and Schrader … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Harmonic Oscillators

Posted on February 27, 2026 by woit

This is related to the Osterwalder-Schrader posting, but is much, much more elementary. I’ll write up some basic facts about the quantum harmonic oscillator and explain what bothers me about the relation to Osterwalder-Schrader. Every quantum mechanics course covers the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Looks Like it is Happening…

Posted on February 24, 2026 by woit

Update: Sorry, but a commenter points out that this may just be an artifact of counting based on when most recently modified, not on original submission date. Numbers using original, not most recent, submission dates For 12/1 to 12/31 the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Osterwalder-Schrader

Posted on February 19, 2026 by woit

I’ve been trying to write up some new ideas about Wick rotation for a long time now, keep getting stuck as it becomes clear at various points that I haven’t gotten to the bottom of what is going on. To … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Weil Anima

Posted on February 10, 2026 by woit

Dustin Clausen is giving a course at the IHES starting today on “Weil Anima” (or maybe “Weil-Moore Anima”. They’ve already put up video of the talk here (also available on Youtube). For an earlier talk by Clausen on this material … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 3 Comments

The Epstein Files

Posted on February 3, 2026 by woit

Like millions of people, I couldn’t stop myself from spending a fair amount of time recently doing searches here, where one can read endless emails, texts, etc. showing in detail what Jeffrey Epstein was up to over many years. I … Continue reading →

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Various and Sundry

Posted on January 27, 2026 by woit

For now, a math item and a physics item, maybe more later… Four years ago, after the decision to have the 2026 ICM in the US was announced, I wrote: With the 2022 experience in mind, hopefully the IMU will … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

The Situation at Columbia (and elsewhere) XXXVI

Posted on January 26, 2026 by woit

Since I’m today seeing some reasons for not being completely depressed about the future, locally and globally, some comments on the latest news. The Columbia trustees announced today the appointment of Jennifer Mnookin, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 8 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on January 14, 2026 by woit

The string theory hype machine will never die. This week we have Press releases from RPI and Northeastern tell us Scientists Use String Theory to Crack the Code of Natural Networks and How String Theory Helped Solve a Mystery of … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 33 Comments

Approaching 50 Years of String Theory

Posted on December 19, 2025 by woit

Brian Greene has a new video out today, of himself talking to Edward Witten, mainly about string theory. Pretty much the usual decades-old hype, with nothing even slightly different than what a similar conversation would have consisted of 20 years … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 10 Comments