ISSYP 2008

In the 1980’s when Vera Rubin was analyzing how stars in galaxies revolve around the galactic core, she made an incredible discovery. The stars where moving much faster than anyone expected. This discovery helped open up a door in physics whose implications are far stranger than the best plot in any…

The reason cosmologists have a job is that the Universe as a whole -- the stuff between planets and stars and galaxies -- is, despite first appearances, a pretty interesting place. The strangest fact about it is that it\'s expanding, and always has been, as far as we know (and though Einstein\'s…

One simple way to think about physics is in terms of information. We gain information about physical systems by observing them, and with luck this data allows us to predict what they will do next. Quantum mechanics doesn't just change the rules about how physical objects behave - it changes the…

We will review the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, first formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, and the role they played in the famous debate between Einstein and Bohr on the meaning of quantum theory. Along the way we will focus on questions like: what do we mean by "uncertainty", and…

Put two physicists in a room and ask them to talk about the interpretation of quantum mechanics. This is a recipe for disagreement; the mysteries of quantum theory run so deep that it’s hard to find any interpretive claims that are immune to controversy. Therefore, when thinking about quantum theory…

Symmetry principles in physics are a very powerful guiding principle. Sometimes they are so powerful that they can determine a theory completely. This talk will be a tour from the Standard Model of particle physics to string theory compactifications using mostly symmetry arguments.