DOCSLIB.ORG

Econtents of No 4 the "CERN COURIER" Referendum Markus E

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Econtents of No 4 the eContents Who's Who in CERN of No 4 Markus E. FIERZ Last month at CERN ... p. 1 24 GeV 1 Director of Theoretical Studies Markus E. Fierz 2 Referendum "CERN COURIER" 2 Safety at CERN 3 Soon after young Markus' birth in Basel, on June 6th 1912, his father was appointed Brookhaven National Lab. 4 professor of organic chemistry at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, the Four months to success ... 6 Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. Commemorative plaques . 6 And ever since it seems that all the life of Markus E. Fierz has revolved around Conference proceedings . 6 this town, the largest of Switzerland. However far Markus Fierz's academic duties or likings took him, a universal attraction appeared to draw him back to the place where PS cables 7 he first saw his father teaching. Fundamental nuclear research 8 When he entered Gottingen University in the winter of 1931, M. Fierz first turned to biology, hoping to achieve biophysical studies. But, prior to 1933, Gottingen was also a sort of Mecca for mathematics and theoretical physics and unquestionably this CERN COURIER condition helped shape his future. With the Nazi purges starting in the spring of 1933, valuable minds began to leave Germany. Away from Gottingen came such men is published monthly for the staff of the as Max Born and Herman Weyl ; back to Zurich came Markus Fierz. European Organization for Nuclear Re­ Continuing his studies in physics, mathemathies and philosophy at the University search. It is distributed free of charge to of Zurich, he had the opportunity to attend Professor Carl G. Jung's seminars on psy­ members of the Organization, to scientific chology. Also in Zurich, under the influence of Professor G. Wentzel, he decided to correspondents and to anyone interested become a theoretical physicist. February 1936 saw Markus Fierz finish his formal in problems connected with the construc­ education with a doctorate thesis on "The artificial transformation of a proton into tion and operation of particle acceler­ a neutron". ators or in the progress of nuclear physics He returned then to Germany to attend seminars on theoretical physics at the in general. University of Leipzig. This is the period which witnessed great academic debates between Heisenberg and Nordsieck and Bloch on the "infrared catastrophe", a Editor problem already raised by Fierz in his doctorate thesis. From Leipzig, Markus Fierz went to Copenhagen to attend one of the then famous Roger ANTHOINE Public Information Office conferences on theoretical physics at Bohr's Institute. There he met again with Wolf­ CERN, GENEVA 23, Switzerland gang Pauli, professor of theoretical physics at the Zurich Federal Institute of Technol­ Tel. : (022) 34 20 50, ext. 788 ogy. Postal cheque A-C : I. 1098 Before this, Pauli and Fierz's relations had been the usual ones between professor and student. Now Pauli asked him to become his assistant. Somewhat apprehensive, Printed in Switzerland Markus Fierz however decided to accept and for three years starting in the winter of 1936, he was scientific collaborator of the discoverer of the exclusion principle. Together with him he published a paper on the "H Theorem" relating to the quanta theory. During this period, M. Fierz also published scientific papers on "A relativistic theory for particles with arbitrary spin" and another on "The form of beta spectrum The "CERN COURIER" for a general interaction". This paper made Markus Fierz best known among experi­ mental physicists because in it were deduced the so-called "Fierz terms", parameters which, their author insists with some humour, "do not exist". Referendum Married in the spring of 1940, M. Fierz left Pauli in the summer of the same year. He was, however, to keep in close touch with the then Nobel prizewinner to be. The CERN staff has given its opi­ In point of fact, they where to exchange a large scientific and philosophic corre­ nion about the contents and presen­ spondence, until Pauli's death in December 1958. tation of its " COURIER ". Markus Fierz became privat-docent and assistant at the Physics Institute, University Out of 1000 questionnaires sent to of Basel, where he was to teach for about 20 years. Extraordinary professor in 1943, all recipients of our periodical, inside ordinary professor in 1945, he was then to participate to the extensive interchanche of 436 the Organization, had been retur­ professors going on in the world after World War II. He was guest at the Institute ned by 11 November, the closing for Advanced Studies, Princeton, in 1950-51 and in 1955, a visiting professor at date. This is an exceptionally good College Park, Maryland University. response when it is remembered that Among the papers published by Professor Fierz during his teaching years, are the editor of a paper who puts ques­ articles on "Multipolar radiation", "Meson theory", "Statistical mechanics" and tions to his readers considers himself "General relativity". Also remarkable is a "Historical essay on Newton's conception lucky if he gets an answer from more than 5 % of them. of the space-time relation" which betrays one of Professor Fierz's hobbies : history. On April 1st, 1959, Professor M. Fierz joined CERN as head of the Theoretical Three hundred and fifty staff mem­ Studies Division. bers are satisfied with the presenta­ Next year on April 1st, Zurich's lasting influence on Markus Fierz will be fully 77 tion of the periodical, regard it as established. Professor Fierz will then return to his favourite city for a most exalting average and 9 do not express an opi­ purpose. He and Professor Res Jost have been appointed successors to Pauli, to teach nion. As regards form, 360 readers theoretical physics at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, Zurich. are in favour of a journalistic style, although some of them figure am6ng the 87 who would like a more res­ trained style. month in the "CERN COURIER". As for the publication of the names Some most constructive remarks Requests are also made for more of staff members, the general opinion were made about the contents. Seven biographical articles, more news is clear: 346 "for", 58 "against" and readers suggested that CERN physi­ about present and future work at 32 "don't know". cists and experts should publish CERN and more information about The distribution of the "CERN news articles about their scientific other accelerators — and even about COURIER" outside the Organization activities which could be easily un­ reactors. It is also suggested to an­ gives rise to various comments. It derstood by non-scientific readers. It nounce forthcoming seminaries and can be held, however, that this helps would be interesting from several lectures. As is the case for the "Rea­ to make CERN better known, even points of view if there could be some ders' page", this suggestion would be if the contents of the periodical are response to these requests... which, enthusiastically adopted if enough mainly intended for the staff. moreover, back up that made every material was received. (see page 6) 2 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Kant, Schlick and Friedman on Space, Time and Gravity in Light of Three Lessons from Particle Physics
    Erkenn DOI 10.1007/s10670-017-9883-5 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Kant, Schlick and Friedman on Space, Time and Gravity in Light of Three Lessons from Particle Physics J. Brian Pitts1 Received: 28 March 2016 / Accepted: 21 January 2017 Ó The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Kantian philosophy of space, time and gravity is significantly affected in three ways by particle physics. First, particle physics deflects Schlick’s General Relativity-based critique of synthetic a priori knowledge. Schlick argued that since geometry was not synthetic a priori, nothing was—a key step toward logical empiricism. Particle physics suggests a Kant-friendlier theory of space-time and gravity presumably approximating General Relativity arbitrarily well, massive spin- 2 gravity, while retaining a flat space-time geometry that is indirectly observable at large distances. The theory’s roots include Seeliger and Neumann in the 1890s and Einstein in 1917 as well as 1920s–1930s physics. Such theories have seen renewed scientific attention since 2000 and especially since 2010 due to breakthroughs addressing early 1970s technical difficulties. Second, particle physics casts addi- tional doubt on Friedman’s constitutive a priori role for the principle of equivalence. Massive spin-2 gravity presumably should have nearly the same empirical content as General Relativity while differing radically on foundational issues. Empirical content even in General Relativity resides in partial differential equations, not in an additional principle identifying gravity and inertia. Third, Kant’s apparent claim that Newton’s results could be known a priori is undermined by an alternate gravitational equation.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Figures
    List of Figures Pauliinhismostusualposition:writingletters.......... 8 PauliasMephistopheles....................... 15 PauliasBuudha........................... 16 BohrshowingPaulithe‘tippetopp’................. 108 NielsBohr’sCoatofArms...................... 110 PauliatthetimeforhisfirstmeetingwithJung.......... 144 Thedivineandthewordlytriangle................. 184 TetractysofthePythagoreans.................... 185 Mandala picture by a seven year old ................ 186 Title page from Fludd’s ‘Utriosque cosmi. historia’ . ...... 187 MandalaofVajrabhairava,theconquerorofdeath......... 188 Pauli’sworldclock......................... 189 Thestagesofalchemyportrayed.................. 201 Jung’sviewofreality........................ 228 The relationship between psyche, body, matter and spirit ..... 229 Westernexplanationofcorrelation................. 278 Chineseexplanationofcorrelation................. 278 Riemann surface .......................... 281 Thecorrespondenceprinciple................... 286 Orderthroughquantity....................... 287 Synchronicity............................ 291 Orderthroughquality........................ 294 Causality,acausalityandsynchronicity............... 296 Pauli’sandJung’sworldviewquaternio............... 297 DNA.................................308 Theworldviewquaterrnioasautomorphism............ 311 Pauli’sdreamsquare........................ 322 Pauli’sTitian............................. 333 Kabbalah.............................. 333 List of Tables Thealchemicstages......................... 199 Pauli’s
    [Show full text]
  • V.Y. Glaser SOME RETROSPECTIVE REMARKS by Ph. Blanchard
    V.Y. Glaser SOME RETROSPECTIVE REMARKS by Ph. Blanchard OPENINGS MATHEMATICS IN PHYSICS GREAT ENCOUNTERS ALONG THE WAY Zagreb, Göttingen, Copenhagen, Geneva, Strasbourg, Bures sur Yvette USING MATHEMATICS WITH CLARITY AND ELEGANCE Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Field Theory O P E N I N G S I am happy to have been asked to speak about Yurko Glaser, his thinking and its actions. It is an honor for me to pay tribute to the brilliant achievements of this leading mathematical physicist, gifted teacher and exceptional friend. It was in Strasbourg at the spring meeting of the RCP 25, where we first met 1967. At this time I was in Zürich at the ETH, working on the Paul-Fierz model of the infrared catastrophe under the direction of Res Jost. Yurko was born on April 21, 1924 just before the discovery by Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Dirac, Born … of modern Quantum Theory in the mid 1920’s. Carlo Rubbia was also born in Gorizia, Görz, Friaul – Julisch Venetien. Quantum Theory before 1925 – the Old Quantum Theory (Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Sommerfeld …) – was part craft part art. Old principles had been founded wanting, new ones had not yet been discovered. Modern Quantum Theory was a real revolution of our understanding of physical process. Compared with this change, Einstein’s relativity, born in 1905, seem not much more than very interesting variations on nevertheless classical themes. Yurko studied at the University of Zagreb, where he received his Diploma in 1950 and his Ph.D in 1953 under the supervision of W. Heisenberg. He moved to Göttingen in 1951-1952 and made his first important contributions to physics, a book of QED published 1955 in Zagreb and outstanding results on QFT, the attempt to clarify the compatibility of special relativity theory with Quantum Theory.
    [Show full text]
  • Wolfgang Pauli 1900 to 1930: His Early Physics in Jungian Perspective
    Wolfgang Pauli 1900 to 1930: His Early Physics in Jungian Perspective A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota by John Richard Gustafson In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Advisor: Roger H. Stuewer Minneapolis, Minnesota July 2004 i © John Richard Gustafson 2004 ii To my father and mother Rudy and Aune Gustafson iii Abstract Wolfgang Pauli's philosophy and physics were intertwined. His philosophy was a variety of Platonism, in which Pauli’s affiliation with Carl Jung formed an integral part, but Pauli’s philosophical explorations in physics appeared before he met Jung. Jung validated Pauli’s psycho-philosophical perspective. Thus, the roots of Pauli’s physics and philosophy are important in the history of modern physics. In his early physics, Pauli attempted to ground his theoretical physics in positivism. He then began instead to trust his intuitive visualizations of entities that formed an underlying reality to the sensible physical world. These visualizations included holistic kernels of mathematical-physical entities that later became for him synonymous with Jung’s mandalas. I have connected Pauli’s visualization patterns in physics during the period 1900 to 1930 to the psychological philosophy of Jung and displayed some examples of Pauli’s creativity in the development of quantum mechanics. By looking at Pauli's early physics and philosophy, we gain insight into Pauli’s contributions to quantum mechanics. His exclusion principle, his influence on Werner Heisenberg in the formulation of matrix mechanics, his emphasis on firm logical and empirical foundations, his creativity in formulating electron spinors, his neutrino hypothesis, and his dialogues with other quantum physicists, all point to Pauli being the dominant genius in the development of quantum theory.
    [Show full text]
  • LIST of PUBLICATIONS Jürg Fröhlich 1. on the Infrared Problem in A
    LIST OF PUBLICATIONS J¨urgFr¨ohlich 1. On the Infrared Problem in a Model of Scalar Electrons and Massless Scalar Bosons, Ph.D. Thesis, ETH 1972, published in Annales de l'Inst. Henri Poincar´e, 19, 1-103 (1974) 2. Existence of Dressed One-Electron States in a Class of Persistent Models, ETH 1972, published in Fortschritte der Physik, 22, 159-198 (1974) 3. with J.-P. Eckmann : Unitary Equivalence of Local Algebras in the Quasi-Free Represen- tation, Annales de l'Inst. Henri Poincar´e 20, 201-209 (1974) 4. Schwinger Functions and Their Generating Functionals, I, Helv. Phys. Acta, 47, 265-306 (1974) 5. Schwinger Functions and Their Generating Functionals, II, Adv. of Math. 23, 119-180 (1977) 6. Verification of Axioms for Euclidean and Relativistic Fields and Haag's Theorem in a Class of P (φ)2 Models, Ann. Inst. H. Poincar´e 21, 271-317 (1974) 7. with K. Osterwalder : Is there a Euclidean field theory for Fermions? Helv. Phys. Acta 47, 781 (1974) 8. The Reconstruction of Quantum Fields from Euclidean Green's Functions at Arbitrary Temperatures, Helv. Phys. Acta 48, 355-369 (1975); (more details are contained in an unpublished paper, Princeton, Dec. 1974) 9. The Pure Phases, the Irreducible Quantum Fields and Dynamical Symmetry Breaking in Symanzik-Nelson Positive Quantum Field Theories, Annals of Physics 97, 1-54 (1975) 10. Quantized "Sine-Gordon" Equation with a Non-Vanishing Mass Term in Two Space-Time Dimensions, Phys. Rev. Letters 34, 833-836 (1975) 11. Classical and Quantum Statistical Mechanics in One and Two Dimensions: Two-Compo- nent Yukawa and Coulomb Systems, Commun.
    [Show full text]
  • Reflections and Twists *
    PUBLICATIONS MATHÉMATIQUES DE L’I.H.É.S. ARTHUR JAFFE Reflections and twists Publications mathématiques de l’I.H.É.S., tome S88 (1998), p. 119-130 <http://www.numdam.org/item?id=PMIHES_1998__S88__119_0> © Publications mathématiques de l’I.H.É.S., 1998, tous droits réservés. L’accès aux archives de la revue « Publications mathématiques de l’I.H.É.S. » (http:// www.ihes.fr/IHES/Publications/Publications.html) implique l’accord avec les conditions géné- rales d’utilisation (http://www.numdam.org/conditions). Toute utilisation commerciale ou im- pression systématique est constitutive d’une infraction pénale. Toute copie ou impression de ce fichier doit contenir la présente mention de copyright. Article numérisé dans le cadre du programme Numérisation de documents anciens mathématiques http://www.numdam.org/ REFLECTIONS AND TWISTS * by ARTHUR JAFFE I. Lif e as a student My extraordinary first-hand introduction to the Feldverein took place 35 years ago, during the year 1 spent at the IHÉS. The path 1 followed from Princeton to Bures-sur-Yvette had a definite random element, so please bear with a bit of autobiographical perspective. 1 began as an undergraduate majoring in experimental chemistry, originally thinking of going into medicine, but eventually moving toward the goal to become a theoretical chemist. With luck, 1 received a Marshall Scholarship to do just that in Cambridge, and upon advice from my undergraduate mentor Charles Gillispie, 1 applied and was admitted to Clare College. But the spring before sailing with the other Marshall scholars to Southampton on the QE II, second thoughts surfaced about continuing in chemistry.
    [Show full text]
  • Rudolf Haag's Legacy of Local Quantum Physics And
    Rudolf Haag’s legacy of Local Quantum Physics and reminiscences about a cherished teacher and friend In memory of Rudolf Haag (1922-2016) submitted to the Eur. Phys. J. H Bert Schroer permanent address: Institut f¨ur Theoretische Physik FU-Berlin, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin, Germany November 2016 Abstract After some personal recollectioms about Rudolf Haag and his thoughts which led him to ”Local Quantum Physics”, the present work recalls his ideas about scattering theory, the relation between local observables and localized fields and his contributions to the physical aspects of modu- lar operator theory which paved the way for an intrisic understanding of quantum causal localization in which fields ”coordinatize” the local algebras. The paper ends with the presentation of string-local fields whose con- struction and use in a new renormalization theory for higher spin fields is part of an ongoing reformulation of gauge theory in the conceptual setting of Haag’s LQP. 1 First encounter with Rudolf Haag arXiv:1612.00003v1 [math-ph] 30 Nov 2016 On his return from the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen to the University of Munich Rudolf Haag passed through Hamburg to meet his colleague Harry Lehmann, at that time the newly appointed successor of Wilhelm Lenz who held the chair of theoretical physics since the 1920 foundation of the University of Hamburg. It was the year 1958 shortly after the decision to construct the DESY particle accelerator in Hamburg which created a lot of excitement. I had nearly completed my diploma thesis under Lehmann and begun to worry about my career.
    [Show full text]
  • GREGOR WENTZEL February 17, 1898 - August 12, 1978
    GREGOR WENTZEL February 17, 1898 - August 12, 1978 arXiv:0809.2102v1 [physics.hist-ph] 11 Sep 2008 BY PETER G.O. FREUND, CHARLES J. GOEBEL, YOICHIRO NAMBU AND REINHARD OEHME 1 Biographical sketch The initial of Gregor Wentzel's last name has found a solid place in the language of theoretical physics as the W of the fundamental WKB approxi- mation, which describes the semi-classical limit of any quantum system. Be- yond this fundamental contribution to quantum theory [1], Gregor Wentzel has played an important role in the theoretical physics of the first half of the twentieth century. Born in D¨usseldorfon 17 February, 1898, Gregor benefited from a rich and multi-faceted education. As the greatest events of his youth, Wentzel used to recall the local premi`eresof the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. A lifelong love for music was instilled in the young Gregor. During World War I he served in the army from 1917 to 1918. At the conclusion of that cataclysmic event, he continued his studies, migrating from university to university, as was customary in those days. First, until 1919 we find him at the University of Freiburg, then at the University of Greifswald, and as of 1920, just like Wolfgang Pauli and Werner Heisenberg and then later Hans Bethe among others, studying with the legendary teacher Arnold Sommerfeld at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, where he obtained his Ph.D. with a thesis on Roentgen spectra [2]. Still in Munich he completed his Habilitation in 1922 and became a Privatdozent (roughly the equivalent of what today would be an assistant professor).
    [Show full text]
  • Constructive Jűrg a Personal Overview of Constructive Quantum Field Theory
    Constructive Jűrg A Personal Overview of Constructive Quantum Field Theory by Arthur Jaffe Dedicated to Jürg Fröhlich 3 July 2007 E.T.H. Zürich “Ich heisse Ernst, aber ich bin fröhlich; er heisst Fröhlich, aber er is ernst!” Richard Ernst 1977 @ 31 29 June 2007 @ 61 - e HAPPY Birthday!!! Jürg: over 285 publications with over 114 co-authors Quantum Field Theory Two major pedestals of 20th century physics: Quantum Theory and Special Relativity Are they compatible? Motivated by Maxwell, Dirac Quantum Electrodynamics (QED): light interacting with matter. Rules of Feynman fl Lamb shift in hydrogen and magnetic moment μ of the electron. calculation: Bethe, Weisskopf, Schwinger, Tomonaga, Kinoshita,…. measurement: Kusch,…, Dehmelt, Gabrielse (1947-2007) now 60! Agreement of calculation with experiment: 1 part in 1012 Strange, but Apparently True Classical mechanics, classical gravitation, classical Maxwell theory, fluid mechanics, non-relativistic quantum theory, statistical mechanics,…, all have a logical foundation. They all are branches of mathematics. But: Most physicists believe that QED on its own is mathematically inconsistent. Reason: It is not “asymptotically free” (1973). Physical explanation: “need other forces.” Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory Effort begun in the 1950’s to give a mathematical framework for quantum field theory and special relativity. Wightman, Jost, Haag Lehmann, Symanzik, Zimmermann Constructive Quantum Field Theory Attempt begun in the 1960’s: find examples (within this framework) having non-trivial interaction. 1. Construct non-linear examples. 2. Find the symmetries of the vacuum, spectrum of particles and bound states (mass eigenvalues), compute scattering, etc. 3. Work exactly (non-perturbatively), although with motivation from perturbation theory.
    [Show full text]
  • Philanthropist Pledges $70 M to Homestake Underground Lab
    CCESepFaces43-51 16/8/06 15:07 Page 43 FACES AND PLACES LABORATORIES Philanthropist pledges $70 m to Homestake Underground Lab South Dakota governor Mike Rounds (third from right) and philanthropist T Denny Sanford (fourth from right) prepare to cut the ribbon at the official dedication of the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory in the former Homestake gold mine. At the official dedication of the Homestake 4200 m water equivalent). In November 2005 donation in South Dakota, including major Underground Laboratory on 26 June, South the Homestake Collaboration issued a call for contributions to a children’s hospital centred Dakota resident, banker and philanthropist letters of interest from scientific at the University of South Dakota, and other T Denny Sanford created a stir by pledging collaborations that were interested in using educational and child-oriented endeavours. $70 m to help develop the multidisciplinary the interim facility. The 85 letters received His gift expands the alliance supporting the laboratory in the former Homestake gold comprised 60% proposals from earth science Sanford Underground Science and mine. The mine is one of two finalists for the and 25% from physics, with the remainder for Engineering Laboratory at Homestake US National Science Foundation effort to engineering and other uses. (SUSEL), joining the State of South Dakota, establish a Deep Underground Science and The second installment of $20 m by 2009 the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL), which will be will create the Sanford Center for Science through its competitive site selection process, a national laboratory for underground Education – a 50 000 ft2 facility in the historic the Homestake Scientific Collaboration and experimentation in nuclear and particle mine buildings.
    [Show full text]
  • Nine Lessons of My Teacher, Arthur Strong Wightman a Talk at Princeton University, 10 March 2013 by Arthur Jaffe (Cambridge (MA), Basel, and Z¨Urich)
    Nine Lessons of my Teacher, Arthur Strong Wightman Nine Lessons of my Teacher, Arthur Strong Wightman A Talk at Princeton University, 10 March 2013 by Arthur Jaffe (Cambridge (MA), Basel, and Z¨urich) At Harvard University, Arthur Ja↵e is the Landon T. Clay Pro- fessor of Mathematics and Theoretical Science. He is currently on sabbatical leave at the University of Basel and at the ETH, Z¨urich. He has worked in several fields of mathematical physics. Arthur Ja↵e received his doctorate in physics from Princeton as a student of Arthur Wightman, after studying mathematics as a Cambridge undergraduate and chemistry as a Princeton un- dergraduate. He has served as president of IAMP, and also as president of the American Mathematical Society. Preamble. All of us here today have been students of Arthur Wightman. But his thirty-six formal doctoral students form a very special club, which I represent on this part of today’s program. A few members appear in this 1965 snapshot of Arthur Wightman’s seminar in Palmer 301, with Arthur smiling benevolently in the center. IAMP News Bulletin, April 2013 3 Arthur Ja↵e Postdoctoral fellows and other visitors to Princeton surround the students during those exciting times some 48 years ago. To the best of my knowledge, here is the complete, wide-ranging list of graduate students: Arthur Wightman’s student club Silvan Samuel Schweber 1952 Gerald Goldin 1969 Richard Ferrell 1952 Eugene Speer 1969 Douglas Hall 1957 George Svetlichny 1969 Oscar W. Greenberg 1957 Barry Simon 1970 Huzihiro Araki 1960 Charles Newman 1971 John S.
    [Show full text]
  • General Relativity and Cosmology: Unsolved Questions and Future Directions
    Article General Relativity and Cosmology: Unsolved Questions and Future Directions Ivan Debono 1,∗,† and George F. Smoot 1,2,3,† 1 Paris Centre for Cosmological Physics, APC, AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/lrfu, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 10, rue Alice Domon et Léonie Duquet, 75205 Paris CEDEX 13, France 2 Physics Department and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, 94720 CA, USA; [email protected] 3 Helmut and Anna Pao Sohmen Professor-at-Large, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong, China * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +33-1-57276991 † These authors contributed equally to this work. Academic Editors: Lorenzo Iorio and Elias C. Vagenas Received: 21 August 2016; Accepted: 14 September 2016; Published: 28 September 2016 Abstract: For the last 100 years, General Relativity (GR) has taken over the gravitational theory mantle held by Newtonian Gravity for the previous 200 years. This article reviews the status of GR in terms of its self-consistency, completeness, and the evidence provided by observations, which have allowed GR to remain the champion of gravitational theories against several other classes of competing theories. We pay particular attention to the role of GR and gravity in cosmology, one of the areas in which one gravity dominates and new phenomena and effects challenge the orthodoxy. We also review other areas where there are likely conflicts pointing to the need to replace or revise GR to represent correctly observations and consistent theoretical framework. Observations have long been key both to the theoretical liveliness and viability of GR.
    [Show full text]