Effective Field Theory, Past and Future

This is a written version of the opening talk at the 6th International Workshop on Chiral Dynamics, at the University of Bern, Switzerland, July 6, 2009, to be published in the proceedings of the Workshop. In it, I reminisce about the early development of effective field theories of the strong interactions, comment briefly on some other applications of effective field theories, and then take up the idea that the Standard Model and General Relativity are the leading terms in an effective field theory. Finally, I cite recent calculations that suggest that the effective field theory of gravitation and matter is asymptotically safe.Comment: Correction to footnote 29 and associated text. 21 page

Soft Bremsstrahlung

Simple analytic formulas are considered for the energy radiated in low frequency bremsstrahlung from fully ionized gases. A formula that has been frequently cited over many years turns out to have only a limited range of validity, more narrow than for a formula derived using the Born approximation. In an attempt to find a more widely valid simple formula, a soft photon theorem is employed, which in this context implies that the differential rate of photon emission in an electron-ion collision with definite initial and final electron momenta is correctly given for sufficiently soft photons by the Born approximation, to all orders in the Coulomb potential. Corrections to the Born approximation arise because the upper limit on photon energy for this theorem to apply to a given collision becomes increasingly stringent as the scattering approaches the forward direction. A general formula is suggested that takes this into account.Comment: 14 pages, no figure

The Cosmological Constant Problems (Talk given at Dark Matter 2000, February, 2000)

The old cosmological constant problem is to understand why the vacuum energy is so small; the new problem is to understand why it is comparable to the present mass density. Several approaches to these problems are reviewed. Quintessence does not help with either; anthropic considerations offer a possibility of solving both. In theories with a scalar field that takes random initial values, the anthropic principle may apply to the cosmological constant, but probably to nothing else.Comment: 10 pages, Late

Tetraquark Mesons in Large NN Quantum Chromodynamics

It is argued that exotic mesons consisting of two quarks and two antiquarks are not ruled out in quantum chromodynamics with a large number $N$ of colors, as generally thought. They can come in two varieties: short-lived tetraquarks with decay rates proportional to $N$, which would be unobservable if $N$ were sufficiently large, and long-lived tetraquarks with decay rates proportional to 1/N. The $f_0(500)$ and $f_0(980)$ may be examples of these two varieties of exotic mesons.Comment: 6 page

Living in the Multiverse

This is the written version of the opening talk at the symposium "Expectations of a Final Theory," at Trinity College, Cambridge, on September 2, 2005. It is to be published in Universe or Multiverse?, ed. B. Carr (Cambridge University Press).Comment: 13 page

What is Quantum Field Theory, and What Did We Think It Is?

This is a talk presented at the conference ``Historical and Philosophical Reflections on the Foundations of Quantum Field Theory,'' at Boston University, March 1996. It will be published in the proceedings of this conference.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, no macros needed, no figure

Minimal fields of canonical dimensionality are free

It is shown that in a scale-invariant relativistic field theory, any field $\psi_n$ belonging to the $(j,0)$ or $(0,j)$ representations of the Lorentz group and with dimensionality $d=j+1$ is a free field. For other field types there is no value of the dimensionality that guarantees that the field is free. Conformal invariance is not used in the proof of these results, but it gives them a special interest; as already known and as shown here in an appendix, the only fields in a conformal field theory that can describe massless particles belong to the $(j,0)$ or $(0,j)$ representations of the Lorentz group and have dimensionality $d=j+1$. Hence in conformal field theories massless particles are free.Comment: 14 page

Quantum Mechanics Without State Vectors

It is proposed to give up the description of physical states in terms of ensembles of state vectors with various probabilities, relying instead solely on the density matrix as the description of reality. With this definition of a physical state, even in entangled states nothing that is done in one isolated system can instantaneously effect the physical state of a distant isolated system. This change in the description of physical states opens up a large variety of new ways that the density matrix may transform under various symmetries, different from the unitary transformations of ordinary quantum mechanics. Such new transformation properties have been explored before, but so far only for the symmetry of time translations into the future, treated as a semi-group. Here new transformation properties are studied for general symmetry transformations forming groups, rather than semi-groups. Arguments are given that such symmetries should act on the density matrix as in ordinary quantum mechanics, but loopholes are found for all of these arguments.Comment: 28 page

Three-Body Interactions Among Nucleons and Pions

A chiral invariant effective Lagrangian may be used to calculate the three-body interactions among low-energy pions and nucleons in terms of known parameters. This method is illustrated by the calculation of the pion-nucleus scattering length.Comment: 16 pages plus four figures, LATEX, Texas preprint UTTG-11-9

Conference Summary

Talk presented at the XXVI International Conference on High Energy Physics, Dallas, Texas, August, 12, 1992.Comment: 40 page