Author Archives: woit

First Hint That the Multiverse Really Exists

Posted on March 3, 2010 by woit

Multiverse mania rolls along, with New Scientist this week running a cover story entitled Touching the Multiverse. They advertise the story by claiming that “we reveal the first hint that the multiverse really exists”. It turns out that this is … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 30 Comments

LHC Update

Posted on February 27, 2010 by woit

Beam commissioning has started for 2010, with beam back in the LHC starting early Sunday morning. The plan is for roughly a month until colliding beams at 3.5 TeV/beam. For the latest news, see here and here. Update: Please, everyone, … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 5 Comments

The Quants

Posted on February 25, 2010 by woit

The third book I recently read that has some math or physics content is Wall Street Journal reporter Scott Patterson’s The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It. It’s a very lively … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 24 Comments

The Edge of Physics

Posted on February 22, 2010 by woit

The second book about physics or math that I finished reading recently is Anil Ananthaswamy’s The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe. The author has a blog devoted to the topic of the book, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments

The Little Book of String Theory

Posted on February 21, 2010 by woit

Back from New Orleans, and there are now three books I’ve read recently that I’ll try and write reviews of. The first is The Little Book of String Theory, by Princeton’s Steve Gubser. The author has a web-site for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 7 Comments

Completely Off-Topic

Posted on February 12, 2010 by woit

I’m heading off to New Orleans tomorrow morning, will be there for Mardi Gras, back next Wednesday. Light to no blogging for the duration. Since I’m already off-topic, I can’t resist promoting my friend Alexei Karamazov (aka Mark Ettinger)’s show, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Completely Off-Topic

String Theory for Undergraduates at Brown

Posted on February 11, 2010 by woit

A few years ago various US universities decided it was a good idea to offer a course on string theory for undergraduates (see here), but in recent years most of these seem to have been dropped from the curriculum. Brown … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 48 Comments

LHC Update

Posted on February 11, 2010 by woit

A new schedule for operation of the LHC is out. It has sector tests of injection into the LHC starting the evening of Feb. 17, circulating beams again around Feb. 22, about 6 weeks for beam commissioning, then physics starting … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 3 Comments

Expanding Crackpottery

Posted on February 9, 2010 by woit

Lubos Motl is getting rather concerned (yes, I know about what pops up when I link to his blog…) about recent trends in theoretical physics, especially the implications of recent work (discussed here) of well-known string theorist Erik Verlinde. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 29 Comments

Various and Sundry

Posted on February 6, 2010 by woit

Now that the plan for running the LHC over the next few years is in place, one can start to get an idea of what new physics might emerge from it between now and 2013. For the question of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments