I’ve just posted another new article in the physics for mathematicians series. This one introduces interacting quantum field theories, including a discussion of how to talk about particles in an interacting theory, moving from there to a discussion of particle scattering and a result called the LSZ formula, which we’ll use in the subsequent installment to do computations with the famous Feynman diagrams.
More than any other topic I’ve covered in this series, I am very aware that this one is reaching an even smaller audience than usual. It’s a topic I care a lot about, and I’m going to keep working on it for that reason, but I think for the next physics article I’d like to aim for a topic with a bit more reach. (By the way, if you’re enjoying the QFT articles and I haven’t heard from you, you should reach out!) Right now I’m thinking that that means general relativity, which has the advantage of not requiring a lot of physics background to appreciate, but I am of course open to suggestions.
I’ve posted a new article, this time outside the physics series. As the name suggests, it’s an overview of the relationship between the Riemann zeta function and the distribution of the primes, and my hope is that it’s readable to anyone who knows enough complex analysis to have seen the Residue Theorem but who might not know anything at all about analytic number theory. This article grew out of a series of lessons I put together for one of my tutoring students, and I really enjoyed learning the material well enough to write it. (By the way, I also currently have some openings for new students! Reach out by email if you’re interested.)
I am also finishing the final edits on a second quantum field theory post, which should be up pretty soon.
After a very long delay and lots of hand-wringing, I’ve posted a new article in the physics for mathematicians series about free fields in quantum field theory. More than any other article in this series I am posting this one without being completely satisfied with the quality of the exposition, but it’s been long enough that I thought it was better to stop delaying and just get it out there, flaws and all. If anyone happens to be reading this who has any suggestions for how it could be improved, I’m very happy to listen!
I’ve been very bad at guessing how long this series will take to write, but my current plan is that the next thing I post will be a direct continuation of the QFT story. As always, let me know if you have any ideas for something you’d like to see.
This year was the first in a long time that I’ve taught at Mathcamp full time, and I’ve just posted notes for two of the classes I taught there this summer.
If you’re one of the very small number of people who are still interested in the quantum field theory article I’ve been promising for years, I have good news: I have actually, finally written most of the first post, and I anticipate having it done soon! More news on that when it’s closer to done.
I’m pretty sure my audience here is small and mostly already knows this, but just in case I’m wrong: the video game I’ve been working on since 2012 has finally been released! Right now it’s only available for Windows (Mac and Linux versions are likely coming pretty soon) and you can get it right here on Steam. This has been a labor of love for the four of us who’ve been working on it and we’re pretty proud of what we’ve managed to put together. If you like puzzle games, we think you’ll really like this one.
You can also follow us on Twitter and/or join our Discord server.
In other news, I’m still tutoring, and I’m going to be returning to Mathcamp this summer as academic co-coordinator. It’s been a long time since I’ve published any expository articles on this site, and I’m not sure how much longer it’s going to be. I’m still planning to do a couple on quantum field theory, but it’s been much harder to find the time to work on it than I thought. If you’re still following that series, all I can say is hang tight!