Over time, Nambu became known as a seer, albeit a shy one. "I can think of no one who gives such good advice," Witten says. Pierre M. Ramond of the University of Florida observes that the directions of particle physics were often predicted by Nambu's papers--encrypted in the footnotes.
These days Nambu puzzles over how quarks acquire their diverse masses. He suggests they might come from historical accident, such as the quarks being born at different stages of the early universe. His thoughts have also turned to biology and to an old bane, entropy. Nambu calculates that virus-size particles, when placed in a cusp-shaped container, seem to violate gravity and entropy. Perhaps they conceal a clue as to how life-forms defy entropy and become ever more organized. Prophecy or quixotic fancy? Ten years from now, we might know.
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Add CommentIn this article Yoichiro Nambu explains how the principle of symmetry may result to the creation of an exhange subatomic particle or force. The principle of symmetry thus blends the relativistic and the quantum platforms, as in both cases forces turn out to be but the effects of the alteration between equivalent possibilities or probabilities.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere appears to be a homology between the principle of equality of the theory of relativity and the law of quantum entanglement. According to the equality principle an observer does not distinguish between two systems in a state of balance, such as between the weight of an object counteracted by the earths resistance, and an accelerating force in empty space counteracted by the inertia of the accelerated mass ( Relativity , by Albert Einstein, 1920).
Similarly, in quantum entanglement, an observer does not distinguish between the two frames of reference at either side of a mirror. As the observer always notices his mirror-image when looking through a mirror, he cannot assess whether he is seated in the real or the reflected world. Therefore the connection between symmetrical counterparts remains unbroken while jumping into or out of a mirror.
Yet with respect to the principle of indeterminacy relating does not necessarily imply acting. Because of the spontaneous symmetry breaking the definition of a frame of reference causes the alignment of the contents of that frame. But that does not reduce the uncertainty, as different observers can choose different frames and no one can hold the other is wrong.
Consequently the violation of the symmetry may be attributed not to the alteration of the intrinsic nature of an object itself, but rather to the altered properties of the relevant frame of reference: The inversion of the deflection of a reflected beta particle, with respect to the parity symmetry violation, may be due to the inversion of the properties of the intercepting magnetic field. The fact that the asymmetries do not cancel out, according to the charge-parity (CP) symmetry violation, further indicates that a frame of reference may behave as a multiple mirror.
The symmetric relation of matter and antimatter depends both on opposite mass-energy values and opposite time directions. Therefore the essential balance of the universe is unshaken by the phenomenal prevalence of matter or antimatter either by the apparent preference of a direction of the arrow of time, as such distinction is a fact (or an artifact) of the observation.