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SUMMARY:Topological Models for Elementary Particles - Kauffman\, LH (Unive
 rsity of Illinois at Chicago)
DTSTART:20121203T140000Z
DTEND:20121203T144000Z
UID:TALK41783@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mustapha Amrani
DESCRIPTION:The talk will be a survey of topological models for elementary
  particles including the work of Lord Kelvin\, Herbert Jehle\, Thomas Keph
 art\, Jack Avrin\, Sundance Bilson-Thompson and recent work of the speaker
  with Sundance Bilson-Thompson and Jonathan Hackett and work of the speake
 r on the Fibonacci model in quantum information theory. Lord Kelvin sugges
 ted that atoms (the elementary particles of his time) are knotted vortices
  in the luminiferous aether. Jehle (much later on) suggested that elemenar
 y particles should be quantized knotted electromagnetic flux. Kephart and 
 Buiny suggest that closed loops of gluon field can be knotted particles --
  knotted glueballs. Avrin notes that a three half-twisted Mobius band coul
 d be like a proton composed of three quarks mutually bound. Sundance Bilso
 n-Thompson has a theory of framed three-braids that is a topological versi
 on of preons. In this theory we can think of particles as topological defe
 cts in networks of surfaces and some properties of embedded surfaces may s
 ort out the matter. In the Fibonacci model for topological quantum computi
 ng\, the system is generated by a braided anyonic abstract particle P that
  interacts with itself to produce itself (PP -----> P) or iteracts with it
 self to produce a neutral particle (PP ------> 1). The elementary particle
  P of the Fibonacci model is a structure that can be seen as a logical par
 ticle\, underlying all the mathematical structures that we know. Since thi
 s talk surveys such a range of ideas\, it will be up to the speaker to fin
 d a way to summarize these diseparate views at the time of the talk.\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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