Mikhail "Misha" Arkadyevich Shifman (; 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 the
Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics,
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, Ida Cohen Fine Professor of Theoretical Physics,
William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute,
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
.
Scientific contributions
Shifman is known for a number of basic contributions to
quantum chromodynamics
In theoretical physics, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the study 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 of ...
, 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 and development of the
SVZ sum rules relating properties of the low-lying hadronic states to the vacuum condensates (1979);
(iii) introduction of the invisible (aka KSVZ)
axion (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 vertex ...
(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 on the
SVZ sum rules[ 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, also commonly referred to as just the Sakurai Prize, is a prize awarded by the American Physical Society. It is presented annually at the Society's April meeting and honors "outstanding a ...
in 1999, the Ida Cohen Fine Chair in Theoretical Physics and the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize in 2006; he is the 2007 laureate of the Blaise Pascal Chair, 2013 Pomeranchuk Prize and he was awarded the 2016 Dirac Medal and Prize of the ICTP.National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, 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 ...
. 2022: Fulbright Distinguished Scholar. In 2024, Mikhail Shifman was appointed as the University of Minnesota Regents Professor. 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 ...
.[
]
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, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
.
Selected books
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See also
* KSVZ axion (Kim–Shifman–Vainshtein–Zakharov axion model)
* SVZ sum rules (Shifman–Vainshtein–Zakharov sum rules)
* Penguin mechanism
* QCD vacuum
* 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 Pascal
Shifman homepage at the University of MinnesotaFTPI homepage at the University of Minnesota2016 Dirac Medal citation
*Interview of Mikhail Shifman by David Zierler on July 7, 2021, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA
www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/47523
{{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
University of Minnesota faculty
Scientists from Riga
American theoretical physicists
J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recipients
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
21st-century American Jews
Jewish American physicists