Frank Wilczek
| Frank Wilczek | |
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| Born | May 15, 1951 Mineola, New York, U.S. |
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| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | MIT |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago Princeton University |
| Doctoral advisor | David Gross  |
| Doctoral students | Mark Alford (*) Michael Forbes Martin Greiter Christoph Holzhey David Kessler Finn Larsen Richard MacKenzie John March-Russell (*) Chetan Nayak Maulik Parikh Krishna Rajagopal David Robertson Sean Robinson Alfred Shapere Stephen Wandzura (*): Jointly a Sidney Coleman student |
| Known for | Quantum chromodynamics |
| Notable awards | Lorentz Medal (2002) Nobel Prize in Physics (2004) |
Frank Anthony Wilczek (born May 15, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. He is a member of the World Knowledge Dialogue Scientific Board, and is currently the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Wilcek along with H. David Politzer and David Gross were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 for their discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction.
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Biography
Born in Mineola, New York, of Polish and Italian origin, Wilczek was educated in the public schools of Queens, attending Martin Van Buren High School. He received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at the University of Chicago in 1970, a Master of Arts in Mathematics at Princeton University, 1972, and a Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University in 1974. Wilczek holds the Herman Feshbach Professorship of Physics at MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. He worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara. He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 2002.
Wilczek was married to Betsy Devine on July 3, 1973, and together have two daughters, Amity and Mira.
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Research
In 1973 Wilczek, a graduate student working with David Gross at Princeton University, discovered asymptotic freedom, which holds that the closer quarks are to each other, the less the strong interaction (or color charge) between them; when quarks are in extreme proximity, the nuclear force between them is so weak that they behave almost as free particles. The theory, which was independently discovered by H. David Politzer, was important for the development of quantum chromodynamics.
Wilczek has helped to reveal and develop axions, anyons, asymptotic freedom, the color superconducting phases of quark matter, and other aspects of quantum field theory. He has worked on an unusually wide range of topics, ranging across condensed matter physics, astrophysics, and particle physics.
- Current research
- "pure" particle physics: connections between theoretical ideas and observable phenomena
- behavior of matter: phase structure of quark matter at ultra-high temperature and density; color superconductivity
- application of particle physics to cosmology
- application of field theory techniques to condensed matter physics
- quantum theory of black holes
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Publications
- Wilczek, F.; Gross, D.J. (1973). "Asymptotically Free Gauge Theories". Phys. Rev. D 8 (10): 3633.
- Wilczek, F.; Gross, D.J. (1973). "Ultraviolet Behavior of non-Abelian Gauge Theories". Phys. Rev. Lett. 30 (26): 1343.
- Wilczek, F. (1978). "Problem Of Strong P And T Invariance In The Presence Of Instantons". Phys. Rev. Lett. 40 (5): 279-282.
- Wilczek, F. (1982). "Quantum Mechanics Of Fractional Spin Particles". Phys. Rev. Lett. 49 (14): 957.
- Wilczek, F.; Alford, M.G.; Rajagopal, K. (1998). "QCD at finite baryon density: Nucleon droplets and color superconductivity". Phys. Lett. (B422): 247-256.
- Wilczek, F. (1998). "Riemann-Einstein structure from volume and gauge symmetry". Phys. Rev. Lett. (80): 4851-4854.
- Wilczek, F.; Fradkin, E.H.; Nayak, C,; Tsvelik, A (1998). "A Chern-Simons effective field theory for the Pfaffian quantum Hall state". Nucl. Phys. (B516): 704-718.
- Wilczek, F.; Alford, M.G.; Rajagopal, K. (1999). "Color-flavor locking and chiral symmetry breaking in high density QCD". Nucl. Phys. (B537): 443-458.
- Wilczek, F. (1999). "Quantum field theory". Rev. Mod. Phys. , (71): S85-S95.
- Wilczek, F.; T. Schafer and (1999). "Continuity of quark and hadron matter". Phys. Rev. Lett. (82): 3956-3959.
- Wilczek, F.; Babu, K.S.; Pati, J.C. (2000). "Fermion masses, neutrino oscillations, and proton decay in the light of SuperKamiokande". Nucl. Phys. (B566): 33-91.
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Bibliography
- Fractional Statistics and Anyon Superconductivity, December 1990
- Geometric Phases in Physics, December 1988
- Longing for the Harmonies: Themes and Variations in Modern Physics, April 1989 (with Betsy Devine)
- Fantastic Realities: 49 Mind Journeys And a Trip to Stockholm, March 2006
- La musica del vuoto. 2007, Roma, Di Renzo Editore
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See also
- asymptotic freedom
- coupling unification
- Quantum chromodynamics
- quark matter
- color superconductivity
- black holes
- axion
- dark matter
- WIMP
- quantum number
- soliton
- fractional statistics
- Hall effect
- MIT Physics Department
- List of Poles
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References
- Frank Wilczek, Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics. Center for Theoretical Physics, MIT (2008). Retrieved on 2008-04-30.
- Tore Frängsmyr, editor (2005). location=Stockholm The Nobel Prizes 2004. Les Prix Nobel. Nobel Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-04-30.
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External links
- 2004 Nobel Physics Winners
- Longer biography at Lifeboat Foundation website
- Papers in ArXiv
- The World's Numerical Recipe
- Scientific articles by Wilczek in the SLAC database
- Wilczek on anyons and superconductivity
- Blog of the Wilczek family's Nobel adventures
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wilczek, Frank |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 15, 1951 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mineola, New York, U.S. |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
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