Roger Frederick Dashen (May 5, 1938 in
Grand Junction, Colorado – May 25, 1995 in
La Jolla) was an American theoretical physicist who studied
particle physics and
quantum field theory
In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...
.
Dashen studied physics at the
Harvard University (where he also played in the football team), where he graduated "summa cum laude" in 1960. Then he went to
Caltech, where he earned his PhD in 1964. After that, he was a professor at Caltech in 1967 and the
Institute for Advanced Study in 1969. In 1986, he became a professor at the
University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1988 was Head of Faculty. He played a leading role in the establishment of a supercomputer center at UCSD and in the establishment of the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the
National Science Foundation at the
University of California, Santa Barbara.
In the 1960s he worked partly in collaboration with
Murray Gell-Mann with current algebras of particle physics and models with
chiral symmetry. In 1964, he worked on
S-matrix methods to calculate electromagnetic corrections to strong interactions, including the mass difference between protons and neutrons with
Steven Frautschi
Steven C. Frautschi (; born December 6, 1933) is an American theoretical physicist, currently professor of physics emeritus at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He is known principally for his contributions to the bootstrap theor ...
. In the 1970s, he studied with
Brosl Hasslacher
Brosl Hasslacher (May 13, 1941 – November 11, 2005) was a theoretical physicist.
Brosl Hasslacher obtained a bachelor's in physics from Harvard University in 1962. He did his Ph.D. with D.Z. Freeman and Yang Chen-Ning, C.N. Yang at the State Uni ...
and
André Neveu quantum field theoretical model theories (such as the Sine-Gordon model and the Gross-Neveu model) for extended particles and semiclassical approximations (
KB approximation[]) for their analysis. They developed the Dashen-Hasslacher-Neveu method (DHN) for quantization of solitons using Functional integration, path integrals. After the discovery of instantons in the
quantum
In physics, a quantum (plural quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a physical property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantizati ...
(QCD) by
Polyakov
Polyakov or Poliakov, (russian: Поляко́в, uk, Поляко́в, he, פוליאקוב, be, Палякоў, Paliakoŭ), or Polyakova, Paliakova (feminine; ) is a Slavs, Slavic surname. It may be transliterated as ''Poliakoff''.
Nota ...
, he examined it with
David Gross and
Curtis Callan. In the 1980s, he worked with
lattice gauge theory s and found with Neuberger (regardless of
Giorgio Parisi) is an upper bound for the
Higgs Boson
The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field,
one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Stand ...
- mass.
Dashen was also involved in sound propagation in the ocean (with military applications in mind), where he applied quantum field theoretical methods (such as path integrals and the
renormalization group) on the problem of random scattering of sound in the ocean. He worked with his JASON colleagues
Kenneth M. Watson
Kenneth Marshall Watson (September 7, 1921 – August 18, 2023) was an American theoretical physicist and physical oceanographer.
Life and career
Watson graduated in 1943 with BS in electrical engineering from Iowa State College. From 1943 to 19 ...
and
Frederik Zachariasen.
[Dashen, Watson, Zachariasen, Walter Munk and Stanley Flatte. '' Propagating sound in a fluctuating ocean ''. Cambridge University Press, 1979] Dashen was senior scientific adviser to the
US Navy, including the committee on the safety of
SSBN
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN – ...
s, the rocket-carrying submarines, and matters relating to submarine warfare. He was a member of the
JASON Defense Advisory Group.
Dashen was a member of the
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 Nati ...
since 1984.
He was married and had two daughters.
Books
* Roger Dashen and
Steve Adler: '' Current Algebras. Applications to Particle Physics ''. Benjamin 1968
References
External links
Oral history interview transcript with Roger Dashen on 2 July 1986, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & ArchivesObituary from the University of CaliforniaBiography at the APSCurtis G. Callan Jr., "Roger Dashen", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2013)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dashen, Roger
1938 births
1995 deaths
20th-century American physicists
Theoretical physicists
Members of JASON (advisory group)
Harvard Crimson football players
California Institute of Technology alumni
University of California, San Diego faculty
Institute for Advanced Study faculty