Mindscape 268 | Matt Strassler on Relativity, Fields, and the Language of Reality
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Published 2024-03-04
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/04/26…
In the 1860s, James Clerk Maxwell argued that light was a wave of electric and magnetic fields. But it took over four decades for physicists to put together the theory of special relativity, which correctly describes the symmetries underlying Maxwell's theory. The delay came in part from the difficulty in accepting that light was a wave, but not a wave in any underlying "aether." Today our most basic view of fundamental physics is found in quantum field theory, which posits that everything around us is a quantum version of a relativistic wave. I talk with physicist Matt Strassler about how we go from these interesting-but-intimidating concepts to the everyday world of tables, chairs, and ourselves.
Matt Strassler received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He is currently a writer and a visiting researcher in physics at Harvard University. His research has ranged over a number of topics in theoretical high-energy physics, from the phenomenology of dark matter and the Higgs boson to dualities in gauge theory and string theory. He blogs at Of Particular Significance, and his new book is Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean.
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All Comments (21)
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Wow, I’m definitely going to read Waves In An Impossible Sea after listening to this interview. I’m about to get my master’s in physics (in the U.S.) and I feel like I’m only now able to start comprehending the deeper aspects of the theory. The Mindscape podcast has certainly helped with that. Thank you for this fascinating conversation Sean & Matt!
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i luv this guy. honest. humble. sciencey. direct. ima gunna listen again.
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Matt Strassler is fantastic! Sean, you have my permission to break your rule against having a guest on twice for Matt.
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Great show! The guest, Dr. Strassler, did a great job of bringing us up to speed on the current state of thought in physics.
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I'm glad Matt Strassler is bringing to the attention of the public the fact that electrons are localized vibrations in an electron field and that the Higgs field affects the electron field.
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I've been reading Matt's blog for over a decade. I am definitely getting the book!
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Thank you for a fascinating discussion. Both Sean Carroll and Matt Strassler exhibited what my greatest physics prof called egoistic humility, which is best captured in the words of Isaac Newton: “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
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Wow, he's GOOD at explaining physics in layperson's terms. Great gift. Will be looking up more of Dr. Strassler.
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Best mindscape l have listened too
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Excellent talk. I understand physics a lot more now, thanks!
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Great podcast, just a simple question: Do the W & Z bosons get their mass from the Higgs field?
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Wowsers, I just barely understood what all this was about. The one thing I learned is that even this fundamental stuff is really complex and there are a lot of things which are unknown.
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Thanks, Sean and Matt. I find it very helpful to break things down to try and understand it. Even so, it's so difficult to conceptualise a lot of things in physics. I do think that even if i were to study for a degree, it would still be difficult to get your head around. For instance, you may understand the concept of light that travels fantastic distance and time but does not degrade or experience time. Gosh, there are a few things that we will need to work on to further our understanding.
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Wow! I learned more In this interview... about things I could never comprehend before... then in any of the every other single episode I have listened to... A word salad of a sentence but I hope you understand...that was fantastic! Hope the book Is in audiobook format. If so, I'll own it in about 15 minutes ❤️❤️❤️🫂's to both of you
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One of your very best. Ill be looking for more from Dr. Strassler. Algorithm, are you listening? I know you are..
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What an awesome talk - I always feel like all is well with the world while listening to such talks! Thank you Matt and Sean!
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Just finished Impossible Sea. It’s bound to be a classic of scientific explanation. This is the kind of honest, authentic science book that has a chance of making the public trust science and scientists.
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THANK YOU, SEAN CAROL; THE EQUATIONS HELP.✌️👍
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PBS Space Time recently summarised Freeman Dyson’s arguments that gravitons are in principle undetectable because any detector sensitive enough to detect them would inevitably form a black hole. In this view gravity cannot be said to be quantum in the usual sense.
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Love this podcast.❤❤
