Profiling the Invisible: Quantum Mechanics and the Unseen Universe

Michael Peskin, SLAC

This lecture is available for online viewing.

22 February 2005

When we explore Nature at distances much smaller than the size of an atom, we find new and mysterious physical principles. At such small sizes, particles are governed by "quantum theory". Quantum theory tells us that some aspects of particle motion cannot be known as a matter of principle. This is a challenge to those of us who would like to do experiments to understand how these particles behave. Fortunately, quantum theory, for all its uncertainty, has its own logic. It predicts patterns in the subatomic world that hold definite information and can be measured to high precision. In this lecture, I will explain how we use these patterns in experiments with high energy particles to learn about the nature of the subnuclear forces and about the structure of the universe.

About the speaker: Michael Peskin a Professor of Theoretical Physics at SLAC. He received his Ph. D. from Cornell University. After holding positions at Harvard, Cornell, and CEN Saclay, he came to SLAC in 1982. He is the author of a leading graduate textbook, "An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory".

Peskin is concerned in his research with ideas for the next level in the fundamental interactions beyond our current knowledge, ideas such as supersymmetry, extra space dimensions, and string theory. He would like to know how we can test these theories and, with luck, prove their validity, through high-energy particle accelerator experiments.