[Emeriti-faculty] Department of Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Information

[Gayle Grant <gayle grant tufts edu>]

Dear Physics & Astronomy Department Colleagues:

On Friday, Feb. 26th we will be having a distinguished visitor and 
Colloquium speaker. Chris Quigg has been head of the Theoretical Physics 
Division at Fermilab, Professor at the University of Chicago, Chair of 
DPF, and a member of many national advisory panels. He was a student of 
J.D. Jackson, a point of interest for those of us, almost all, who may 
have struggled through “Classical Electrodynamics”. Our plans for the 
day are a visit with the high energy physics group at STC in the 
morning, a meeting with our cosmology group around 12:30 in Robinson 
258, and a department light lunch for everyone at 1:30 p.m. in the Knipp 
Library in Robinson Hall. Lunch will be followed by the Colloquium at 
2:30. Please mark your calendar.

Jack , for the Colloquium Committee

Feb. 26, 2010 – Lunch, 1:30 p.m., Robinson 251
Colloquium, 2:30 p.m. – Nelson Auditorium, Anderson Hall
The Coming Revolutions in Particle Physics
Chris Quigg
Theoretical Physics Department
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Abstract:

Soon, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will advance the experimental 
frontier of particle physics to the heart of the Fermi scale, reaching 
energies around one trillion electron volts for collisions among the 
basic constituents of matter. We do not know what the new wave of 
exploration will find, but the discoveries we make and the new puzzles 
we encounter are certain to change the face of particle physics and echo 
through neighboring sciences.
In this new world, we confidently expect to learn what sets 
electromagnetism apart from the weak interactions, with profound 
implications for our conception of the everyday world. We will gain a 
new understanding of simple and profound questions: Why are there atoms? 
Why chemistry? What makes stable structures possible? A pivotal step 
will be finding the Higgs boson and exploring its properties. But there 
may be much more: we have hints of other new phenomena, including some 
that may clarify why gravity is so much weaker than the other 
fundamental forces. We also have reason to believe that candidates for 
the dark matter of the Universe could be lurking on the Fermi scale.
Beyond the Fermi scale lies the prospect of other new insights: into the 
different forms of matter, the unity of quarks and leptons, and the 
nature of spacetime. The questions in play all seem linked to one 
another—and to the relationship of the weak and electromagnetic 
interactions. Where will the revolutions end?