The Symmetry and Simplicity of the Laws of Nature and the Higgs Boson | Juan Maldacena

Juan Maldacena, Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study
www.ias.edu/peo...
October 3, 2012
In this lecture, Juan Maldacena, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, describes the theoretical ideas, developed in the 1960s and '70s, that led to the prediction of the Higgs boson, the particle that appears to have been discovered over the summer in 2012. The forces of nature are based on beautiful symmetries. Maldacena explains why the Higgs mechanism is necessary to avoid some of the naive consequences of these symmetries and to explain various features of elementary particles.
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[@Hampardo]

This is the best intuitive explanation of gauge theory I have ever heard.

[@sonarbangla8711]

I still don't get the gauge theory. Is scale independence an explanation?

[@joef2593]

Wish I could pick his brain, truly a gift to the physics community

[@bbill8142]

Very interesting. I liked the humor.

[@shirleymason7697]

The Taj Mahal is somewhat symmetrical, certainly side to side, and exhibits a beauty of its own. So art, beautiful art, can be symmetrical.

[@Snorkeldykkeren]

Humankind should stay within the natural depths of things, stay within natures sequences and frequencies where nature finds its place

[@UrgeidoitNet]

nice!

[@EnricoSilterra]

i am baffled by the extended monetary analogy.

[@ticklewit]

very intersting

[@Neueregel]

interesting

[@MaxBrix]

This is why 1% of the electrons have all of the energy.

[@closetcleaner]

A lecture on simplicity ruined by a complicated analogy. Frustrating.

[@nahokok5062]

Srry but we don't associate symmetry to beauty. Most works of art are not symmetric; there is a specific aesthetic pleasure in toying with symmetry. Anything symmetric is boring to look at; art and beauty, on the other hand, are exciting.

[@Felhek]

your unique perspective of beauty is curious. and i disagree with it. for me, symmetry is beauty.

[@proskub5039]

facial symmetry has been found to be very relevant to attractiveness.

[@5hape5hift3r]

a breaking of symmetry is beauty

[@joef2593]

Well, in my experience things thst people usually consider things attractive are symmetrical, for example, models and movie stars have a high degree of symmetry with their face, their face flipped along the y axis of their nose makes an almost identical image which for some reason people find attractive because it may suggest strong (consistent) genes in an evolutionary sense, car manufacturers don't paint their cars multiple colors or crazy patterns because people tend to go for a symmetrical look, almost anything you buy is normally just 1 or 2 colors maybe with a symmetrical design or pattern but people don't like inconsistency, symmetries give us a sense of order and consistency which humans crave but what I think he's getting at is the beauty of the interactions of all these quantum things, everything just works together so beautifully because of these inherent symmetries yet a lot of it is still complete mystery, and uncovering the underlying orders and symmetrical properties of the quantum world is truly beautiful in my opinion, but I do see your point and there is a beauty to chaos as well.

[@NoOne-yw6pr]

@ Nahoko K The meaning of symmetry in physics differs from the symmetry you refer to in art, etc. "In physics, a symmetry of a physical system is a physical or mathematical feature of the system (observed or intrinsic) that is preserved or remains unchanged under some transformation. A family of particular transformations may be continuous (such as rotation of a circle) or discrete (e.g., reflection of a bilaterally symmetric figure, or rotation of a regular polygon). Continuous and discrete transformations give rise to corresponding types of symmetries. Continuous symmetries can be described by Lie groups while discrete symmetries are described by finite groups (see Symmetry group). These two concepts, Lie and finite groups, are the foundation for the fundamental theories of modern physics. Symmetries are frequently amenable to mathematical formulations such as group representations and can, in addition, be exploited to simplify many problems. Arguably the most important example of a symmetry in physics is that the speed of light has the same value in all frames of reference, which is known in mathematical terms as the Poincaré group, the symmetry group of special relativity. Another important example is the invariance of the form of physical laws under arbitrary differentiable coordinate transformations, which is an important idea in general relativity". Source: Wikipedia.