Mikhail "Misha" Arkadyevich Shifman (russian: Михаи́л Арка́дьевич Ши́фман; born 4 April 1949) is a theoretical
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
(high energy physics), formerly at
Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics
The Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP; Russian Институт теоретической и экспериментальной физики) is a multi-disciplinary research center located in Moscow, Russia. ITEP carries o ...
,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Ida Cohen Fine Professor of Theoretical Physics,
William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute,
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
.
Scientific contributions
Shifman is known for a number of basic contributions to
quantum chromodynamics
In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a type ...
, the theory of strong interactions, and to understanding of supersymmetric gauge dynamics. The most important results due to M. Shifman are diverse and include (i) the discovery of the
penguin mechanism in the flavor-changing weak decays (1974); (ii) introduction of the
gluon condensate
In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the gluon condensate is a non-perturbative property of the QCD vacuum which could be partly responsible for giving masses to light mesons.
If the gluon field tensor is represented as Gμν, then the gluon condensat ...
and development of the
SVZ sum rules
In quantum chromodynamics, the confining and strong coupling nature of the theory means that conventional perturbative techniques often fail to apply. The QCD sum rules (or Shifman– Vainshtein– Zakharov sum rules) are a way of dealing with t ...
relating properties of the low-lying hadronic states to the vacuum condensates (1979);
(iii) introduction of the invisible
axion
An axion () is a hypothetical elementary particle postulated by the Peccei–Quinn theory in 1977 to resolve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). If axions exist and have low mass within a specific range, they are of interest ...
(1980) (iv) first exact results in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories (NSVZ beta function, gluino condensate,1983–1988); (v) heavy quark theory based on the
operator product expansion
In quantum field theory, the operator product expansion (OPE) is used as an axiom to define the product of fields as a sum over the same fields. As an axiom, it offers a non-perturbative approach to quantum field theory. One example is the ver ...
(1985–1995); (vi) critical domain walls (D-brane analogs) in super-Yang-Mills (1996); (vii) non-perturbative (exact)
planar equivalence between super-Yang-Mills and orientifold non-supersymmetric theories (2003); (viii) non-Abelian flux tubes and confined monopoles (2004 till present). His paper with
A. Vainshtein and
Zakharov Zakharov (russian: Захаров), or Zakharova (feminine; Захарова) is a Russian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
People
* Aleksandr Zakharov, multiple people
*Alexander V. Zakharov (born 1941), Soviet and Russian scienti ...
on the
SVZ sum rules
In quantum chromodynamics, the confining and strong coupling nature of the theory means that conventional perturbative techniques often fail to apply. The QCD sum rules (or Shifman– Vainshtein– Zakharov sum rules) are a way of dealing with t ...
[ is among the all-time top cited papers in high-energy physics.
]
Honors and awards
Mikhail Shifman received the Alexander-von-Humboldt Award in 1993, the Sakurai Prize
The J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, is presented by the American Physical Society at its annual April Meeting, and honors outstanding achievement in particle physics theory. The prize consists of a monetary award ($10,000 U ...
in 1999, the Ida Cohen Fine Chair in Theoretical Physics and the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize
The Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society, to remember Julius Edgar Lilienfeld, has been awarded annually, since 1989. (It was not awarded in 2002). The purpose of the Prize is to recognize outstanding contributions to ph ...
in 2006; he is the 2007 laureate of the Blaise Pascal Chair
The Blaise Pascal Chairs (Chaires Internationales de Recherché Blaise Pascal), established in 1996 by the Government of the Île-de-France Region for internationally acclaimed foreign scientists in all disciplines. A scientific committee annually ...
, 2013 Pomeranchuk Prize The Pomeranchuk Prize is an international award for theoretical physics, awarded annually since 1998 by the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP) from Moscow. It is named after Russian physicist Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk, w ...
and he was awarded the 2016 Dirac Medal and Prize.National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
. 2022: Fulbright Distinguished Scholar. He is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
.[
]
Political positions
In February-March 2022, he signed two open letters by Russian scientists condemning the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
.An open letter to the Physics Community from physicists of Russian descent
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Selected books
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See also
* KSVZ axion (Kim–Shifman–Vainshtein–Zakharov axion model)
*SVZ sum rules
In quantum chromodynamics, the confining and strong coupling nature of the theory means that conventional perturbative techniques often fail to apply. The QCD sum rules (or Shifman– Vainshtein– Zakharov sum rules) are a way of dealing with t ...
(Shifman–Vainshtein–Zakharov sum rules)
* Penguin mechanism
*QCD vacuum
In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks mediated by gluons. Quarks are fundamental particles that make up composite hadrons such as the proton, neutron and pion. QCD is a type o ...
* NSVZ beta function
* Gluon condensation
*Gluino condensation
*Critical (BPS saturated) domain walls in super-Yang–Mills
*Non-Abelian flux tubes in super-Yang–Mills
* Planar equivalence in non-Abelian orientifold theories
References
External links
1999 Sakurai Prize citation2006 Lilienfeld Prize citation2007 Chaires Blaise PascalShifman homepage at the University of MinnesotaFTPI homepage at the University of Minnesota2016 Dirac Medal citation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shifman, Mikhail A.
1949 births
Living people
21st-century American physicists
20th-century American Jews
Fellows of the American Physical Society
Russian physicists
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology alumni
Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics alumni
Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
University of Minnesota faculty
Scientists from Riga
Theoretical physicists
J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recipients
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
21st-century American Jews