Author Archives: woit

Twistor Unification

Posted on April 1, 2021 by woit

I’ve finally finished writing up a new version of some ideas that I first wrote about here last summer. The latest draft is here, I may set up a web page with more info here. Several people had very helpful … Continue reading →

Posted in Euclidean Twistor Unification | 11 Comments

The Future of Fundamental Physics

Posted on March 24, 2021 by woit

IAS director Robbert Dijkgraaf will be giving the CERN colloquium tomorrow, with the title The Future of Fundamental Physics. Here’s the abstract: The reports of the death of physics are greatly exaggerated. Instead, I would argue, we are living in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 30 Comments

New Spaces in Mathematics and Physics

Posted on March 22, 2021 by woit

Available online today (if your institution is paying…) from Cambridge University Press are two volumes well-worth spending some time with: New Spaces in Mathematics and New Spaces in Physics. These contain write-ups based on a workshop organized back in 2015 … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 7 Comments

ABC is Still a Conjecture

Posted on March 4, 2021 by woit

Just a reminder that the abc conjecture is still a conjecture, there is no known valid proof (don’t believe what you might read in an EMS journal). For more about why one attempted proof doesn’t work, see here and here. … Continue reading →

Posted in abc Conjecture | 78 Comments

Yet More Geometric Langlands News

Posted on February 27, 2021 by woit

It has only been a couple weeks since my last posting on this topic, but there’s quite a bit of new news on the geometric Langlands front. One of the great goals of the subject has always been to bring … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 14 Comments

Isadore Singer 1924-2021

Posted on February 12, 2021 by woit

I was sorry to hear this morning of the death yesterday at the age of 96 of Is Singer, a mathematician who led much of the interaction between mathematics and physics during the 1970s and 1980s. In the early stages … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 9 Comments

Geometric Langlands News

Posted on February 11, 2021 by woit

There’s various news to report on the geometric Langlands front, spanning number theory to quantum field theory: Minhyong Kim has been running an Online Mini-Conference on the Geometric Langlands Correspondence for the past month, and Dennis Gaitsgory has been doing … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 7 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on January 25, 2021 by woit

I had just been thinking the other day about how little one hears recently about the multiverse, with those previously involved in heavy promotion of the idea perhaps having thought better of it. Today however, Quanta has Physicists Study How … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 22 Comments

What is a Spinor?

Posted on January 21, 2021 by woit

Recently Jean-Pierre Bourguignon recently gave the Inaugural Atiyah Lecture, with the title What is a Spinor? The title was a reference to a 2013 talk by Atiyah at the IHES with the same title. Bourguignon’s lecture is not yet online, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Wilczek on the Problems of Fundamental Physics

Posted on January 18, 2021 by woit

Sean Carroll has a new interview up with Frank Wilczek in which they discuss, among other things, the problematic current state of fundamental physics. On the topic of string theory, here’s the discussion: 0:58:34.8 SC: Well, some of this worry … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments