…xample, Gell-Mann’s (1961) adoption of the symmetry group SU(3) led him to organize a new taxonomy of hadrons (as they are now called) according to the irreducible representations of the new symmetry group. Of course, in building up quantum theory as it gets used in practice, many other mathematical objects besides groups come into play: vector spaces, commutation relations, Hermitian forms, and on and on. What GSR postulates is that, out of all t…
Read more…than $200. Nevertheless, let it be known that an electronic copy of this book does is circulating on the inter-tubes. If you look around a bit, you’ll likely be able to find and download a copy for free. Just throwing that out there. See also my advice about reading on the cheap, and about learning GR online. This list was inspired by a recent post over at It’s Only a Theory — further suggestions are more than welcome. Happy reading! (*) Added Fe…
Read more…. Bibdesk. You can download this beautiful little app for free from Sourceforge. If you copy a bibtex citation record to the clipboard, you can add it automatically to Bibdesk by typing Command-Option-L. Textmate Drop-down Menu. Make sure you’ve installed Textmate (trial available from Macromates) and Bidesk. To set up that neat little drop-down menu in Textmate, first download and unzip the “Completion.zip” package (available here). Second, doubl…
Read more…per. The “Report of the Dark Energy Task Force” is available here on arxiv.org. Obviously, it’s hard not to love a paper like this. The reasons appear to break down roughly as follows. Of course, as I’ve noted before, there remain many alternatives to dark energy cosmology. But without a title like this, I’m afraid the competition is doomed. Related Posts: Map of the cosmic acceleration literature Penrose in Pittsburgh No, there are STILL no deadl…
Read moreKentucky, who runs a fantastic blog over at arxivblog.org, has pointed out a new calculation about black hole creation here on earth. The paper (arxiv) suggests that mini-black holes might be created at CERN, and actually be long-lasting, existing for as long as a minute. Kentucky is worried about all of our well-beings. The press for CERN is of course nice. But as I’ve argued before, there will be no deadly black holes created at CERN. The theor…
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