The Erwin Schrodinger¨ International Boltzmanngasse 9/2 Institute for Mathematical Physics A-1090 Vienna, Austria ESI NEWS Volume 2, Issue 2, Autumn 2007 Editorial lation. Klaus Schmidt JULIUS WESS was a key participant Contents in the workshop Interfaces between Math- Editorial 1 ematics and Physics in Vienna in May This summer saw the 1991 which laid the foundation for the Er- Wolfgang Kummer 1935 – 2007 1 deaths of two eminent win Schrodinger¨ Institute, both scientifi- Julius Wess 1934 – 2007 2 physicists who had cally and politically. He helped to impress had close links with on the Minister for Science at that time, Reminiscences of old Friendships 2 the ESI over many Erhard Busek, the desirability and, indeed, In memoriam Julius Wess 3 years and to whom necessity of creating a research institute the ESI remains grate- to provide a meeting place where scien- Entanglement in many-body quan- ful for their friendship tists from Eastern Europe could interact tum physics 4 over many years. with the international scientific community Kazhdan’s Property (T) 8 WOLFGANG KUMMER, Professor for at a period of great political and financial Theoretical Physics at the Vienna Univer- uncertainty in the post-communist world. Perturbative Quantum Field The- sity of Technology (VUT), was a mem- Julius Wess helped the ESI on a second oc- ory 9 ber of the ‘Vorstand’ (Governing Board) casion, when Walter Thirring fell seriously Interaction of Mathematics and of the Erwin Schrodinger¨ Institute from ill in early 1992 and Julius Wess chaired Physics 11 1993 until 2005 and was elected Honorary a second workshop on Interfaces between Member of the Institute when he resigned Mathematics and Physics in March 1992 ESI News 11 from the board in 2005. He was instrumen- and took charge of the negotiations with Current and future activities of the tal in encouraging and maintaining scien- the Austrian Ministry of Science which had ESI 12 tific links between the ESI and the VUT reached a crucial point at that stage. It is by co-organizing scientific programmes at fair to say that Julius Wess made a signif- the ESI and co-hosting ESI Senior Re- icant contribution both to the foundation search Fellows on several occasions. The and the scientific development of the ESI. ESI owes him many valuable suggestions, Julius Wess was elected Honorary constructive criticism and scientific stimu- Member of the ESI in 2005. Wolfgang Kummer nology (VUT) on a more regular basis. topics of high-energy physics and quantum Sudden heart failure prevented his plans field theory was, in an ironic twist, partly 1935 – 2007 from coming true. motivated as deliberate contrast program to the dominant research activity of his doc- Joachim Burgdorfer¨ We mourn the loss of a great scien- toral supervisor and chair of the Theoreti- tist, of an academic teacher and researcher cal Physics at the VUT at that time, Walter of highest calibre, and of a key figure The Austrian physics Glaser, which was firmly rooted in classi- that helped shaping the scientific profile community received cal dynamics. Glaser, who died already in and reputation of high energy physics in unexpectedly the sad 1960 at the age of 54, did not live to see the Austria. He was appointed full professor news of Wolfgang recognition his joint research with his ex- of Theoretical Physics in 1968 as one of Kummer’s passing perimental collaborator and winner of the the youngest full professors in Austria and away on July 15, 2007 1988 Nobel prize Ernst Ruska would even- served in this capacity for 36 years un- after a long and coura- tually receive. Glaser’s theoretical contri- til reaching emeritus status in 2004. His geous battle with can- butions to electron beam optics played a teaching career began even earlier when cer. Just a few days earlier, Wolfgang had crucial role in the developments of the high he became university assistant (or assistant given in a phone conversation with the au- resolution electron microscope, as Ruska professor) in 1958. Over a period of almost thor of these lines an up-beat assessment noted in his Nobel lecture. half a century, interrupted by several re- of a new treatment he was receiving and search visits abroad, Wolfgang taught theo- to which he responded well. He was look- Wolfgang Kummer received strong retical physics at the VUT. He received his ing forward to a further improvement of support and tutelage from Walter Thirring, diploma in 1958 and his Ph.D. in theoreti- his condition and he made already plans University of Vienna, who secured for him cal physics in 1960 from VUT. to return to ‘his’ Institute for Theoretical a Ford Fellowship and brought him in con- Physics at the Vienna University of Tech- His desire to specialize in the ‘modern’ tact with the high-energy physics com- 2 Volume 2, Issue 2, Autumn 2007 ESI NEWS gang became victim of a terrorist attack was unceasingly productive well beyond munity. Kummer joined Victor Weisskopf, on Vienna airport when he suffered mul- his official retirement in 2004. then director-general of CERN, as a Ford tiple injuries from hand grenade splinters His work received many accolades Fellow from October 1961 to March 1962. and shrapnels. Even though his injuries and signs of recognition. Among others Weisskopf invited him to come back as a were life threatening and he spent eleven he was elected full member of the Aus- CERN fellow and his scientific assistant days in intensive care, he quickly recov- trian Academy of Sciences in 1985. Wolf- from 1963 to 1964. Returning to Vienna, ered and resumed his duty as council presi- gang was awarded the Schrodinger¨ Prize Kummer completed his habilitation (‘ve- dent within weeks. Kummer also served in in 1988, the Walter Thirring Prize 2000 nia legendi’) from VUT in 1965. He be- numerous international organizations that (together with L. Faddeev). He received came the founding director of the Institute set science policies. Among others, he was an Honorary Doctorate from the National for High Energy Physics of the Austrian member of the Austrian UNESCO com- Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine in Academy of Sciences in 1966, which he mittee for science from 1975 to 1992 and 2005. led until 1971. His appointment to the sec- Austrian representative at the General As- ond chair of Theoretical Physics at VUT sembly of the International Union of pure Kummer’s contributions to the scien- took place during this period, as a result of and Applied Sciences (IUPAP) from 1996 tific community at large were by no means which his center of activity gravitated to- to 2002. He also was member of the limited to science. He exemplified the role wards his Alma Mater. Among the many ‘Vorstand’ (Governing Board) of the Er- of an enthusiastic teacher, of an unselfish administrative duties he took on during win Schrodinger¨ International Institute for and supporting mentor of his younger col- his tenure were the chairmanship of the Mathematical Physics, Vienna, founded in leagues, and of a colleague of impeccable physics department from 1981 to 1987 and 1993. Kummer’s foremost achievement is integrity. He will be remembered for his the directorship of the Institute for Theoret- undoubtedly the build-up of a strong theo- unfailing dedication to the cause of science, ical Physics from 1995 until 2003. retical high-energy physics group covering displayed even under adverse conditions of Over many years Kummer represented a broad range of topics in quantum field deteriorating health. the Austrian High-Energy Community at theory and (mainly 2D) quantum gravity. His many friends and close colleagues CERN. From 1966 to 1971 he was Austrian Kummer made fundamental contributions are grateful for the time we were privileged representative at the Council of CERN. to quantum gauge field theory, in particu- to share with him. Our thoughts are with his He served as its vice president from 1980 lar by using ghost-free non-covariant gauge widow, Dr. Lore Kummer who was his sup- to 1983 and as its president from 1985 fixing. Since the early 1990’s he mainly portive companion for almost half a cen- to 1987. On December 26, 1985 Wolf- worked on two-dimensional gravity and he tury. Julius Wess 1934 – 2007 ray Gell-Mann and Yuval Ne’eman, but ries and require fewer renormalization con- not with the same representation as in the stants. It is possible to formulate SUSY ex- Walter Thirring and Bruno Zumino “eightfold way”. Instead, it included only tensions of the Standard Model (SM) of the A-particle in the same representation particle physics that do not have the diffi- Julius Wess was an as the nucleons; at that time it seemed too culties of the conventional SM. These ex- imaginative, techni- daring to include the other five particles as tensions imply new particles and fields, cally strong and in- well, as their properties seemed to be un- which could be found at CERNs LHC, fluential theoretical duly different. Working with Tom Fulton, which is due to start up in 2008. Some of physicist. He died Julius went on to formulate an SU(6) the- these theories predict particles (e.g. neu- suddenly in Ham- ory in an attempt to unify spin and isospin tralinos) that are candidates for the dark burg on 8 August at in agreement with special relativity. matter of the universe. the age of 72. Julius also worked in collaboration Julius’s path took him to many places Julius, an assistant to Walter Thirring with Bruno Zumino on the mathemati- around the world, and through his lov- in Vienna, went on to be a professor first cal structure of anomalies in non-Abelian able, unassuming manner and his conta- at Karlsruhe University and then at the gauge quantum field theory.