Alexander Markovich Polyakov

Alexander Markovich Polyakov (Алекса́ндр Ма́ркович Поляко́в; born 27 September 1945) is a Russian theoretical physicist and emeritus professor of physics. His honors include the Dirac Medal (ICTP) Dirac Medal of the ICTP (1986), the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (1986), the Lorentz Medal (1994), the Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture Oskar Klein Medal (1996), the Harvey Prize in 2010, the Lars Onsager Prize (together with Alexander Belavin A. Belavin and Alexander Zamolodchikov A. Zamolodchikov in 2011), the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2013), and the Max Planck Medal (2021). Quotes We develop a Scientific formalism formalism for computing sums over random surfaces which arise in all problems containing gauge invariance (like Quantum chromodynamics QCD, three-dimensional Ising model etc.). These sums are reduced to the exactly solvable quantum theory of the two-dimensional Liouville lagrangian. At D = 26 the string dynamics is that of harmonic oscillators as was predicted earlier by dual theorists, otherwise it is described by the nonlinear integrable theory. July 1981 Quantum geometry of boson strings Physics Letters B 103 3 207–210 10.1016/0370-2693(81)90743-7 (over 4500 citations) We have no better way of describing elementary particles than quantum field theory. A quantum field in general is an assembly of an infinite number of interacting harmonic oscillators. Excitations of such oscillators are associated with particles. The special importance of the harmonic oscillator follows from the fact that its excitation spectrum is additive, i.e. if E1 and E2 are energy levels above the ground state then E1 + E2 will be an energy level as well. It is precisely this property that we expect to be true for a system of elementary particles. Harwood Academic Publishers Contemporary Concepts in Physics, vol. 3 978-3-7186-0393-0 Gauge Fields and Strings London 1987 https://books.google.com/books/about/Gauge_Fields_and_Strings.html?id=uaI8xcjJ8LMC&pg=PA1 1 Polyakov loop#Quark free energy Quark liberation can be understood in a very simple way by means of the Peierls argument. Namely, while the energy of the string is proportional to its length, the entropy of it also grows linearly (since the number of random curves grows exponentially with their lengths). Thus at a certain temperature the entropy takes over and infinitely long strings begin to dominate. That means liberation. 50 Years of Yang-Mills Theory Chapter 13. Confinement and Liberation by A. M. Polyakov World Scientific 2005 9789812567147 https://books.google.com/books/about/50_Years_of_Yang_Mills_Theory.html?id=WV57GpYjYREC&pg=PA319 311–332 (quote from p. 319; 487 pages; edited by Gerardus 't Hooft; text at arxiv.org) Quotes about Alexander Markovich Polyakov Based at Princeton University, Polyakov was chosen from a shortlist of three, which included string theorist Joseph Polchinski of the University of California, Santa Barbara and a trio of Topological insulator topological-insulator researchers – Charles L. Kane Charles Kane of the University of Pennsylvania, Laurens W. Molenkamp Laurens Molenkamp of the University of Würzburg and Shoucheng Zhang of Stanford University.The shortlist and ultimate winner were chosen by a panel comprising nine physicists – seven of whom are string theorists and one a topological-insulator pioneer.Not surprisingly, string-theory naysayer Peter Woit of Columbia University is not pleased. “The [ceremony] was largely a string theory hype-fest…,” he wrote on his blog Not Even Wrong.Meanwhile in a very different dimension of the blogosphere, Lubos Motl is elated and writes “Sasha Polyakov is a giant because he is a string-theory pioneer and because he has cracked many phenomena in gauge theories.” Motl also makes a confession of sorts about what he discovered while alone in Polyakov’s office… Hamish Johnston, String theorist bags $3m Fundamental Physics Prize 21 March 2013 Physics World https://physicsworld.com/a/string-theorist-bags-3m-fundamental-physics-prize/ Alexander Polyakov, a Theoretical physics theoretical physicist now at Princeton University, caught a glimpse of the future of Quantum field theory quantum theory in 1981. A range of mysteries, from the wiggling of strings to the binding of quarks into protons, demanded a new mathematical tool whose silhouette he could just make out. ...In his paper he sketched out a formula that roughly described how to calculate averages of a wildly chaotic type of surface, the “Louiville field theory Liouville field.” His work brought physicists into a new mathematical arena, one essential for unlocking the behavior of theoretical objects called strings and building a simplified model of quantum gravity.Years of toil would lead Polyakov to breakthrough solutions for other theories in physics, but he never fully understood the mathematics behind the Liouville field.Over the last seven years, however, a group of mathematicians has done what many researchers thought impossible. In a trilogy of landmark publications, they have recast Polyakov’s formula using fully rigorous mathematical language and proved that the Liouville field flawlessly models the phenomena Polyakov thought it would. Charlie Wood, Mathematicians Prove 2D Version of Quantum Gravity Really Works. In three towering papers, a team of mathematicians has worked out the details of Liouville quantum field theory, a two-dimensional model of quantum gravity June 17, 2021 Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-prove-2d-version-of-quantum-gravity-really-works-20210617/ External links Departmental homepage at Princeton Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:People from Moscow Category:Physicists from Russia Category:Physicists from the United States Category:Princeton University faculty