Stephen Louis Adler (born November 30, 1939) is an American

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 ...

specializing in

elementary particles In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a subatomic particle that is not composed of other particles. The Standard Model presently recognizes seventeen distinct particles—twelve fermions and five bosons. As a con ...

and field theory. He is currently professor emeritus in the school of natural sciences at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

in Princeton, New Jersey.

Biography

Adler was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He received an A.B. degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1961, where he was a

Putnam Fellow The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, often abbreviated to Putnam Competition, is an annual mathematics competition for undergraduate college students enrolled at institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada (regar ...

in 1959, and a Ph.D. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1964. Adler completed his doctoral dissertation, titled ''High energy neutrino reactions and conservations hypotheses'', under the supervision of

Sam Treiman Sam Bard Treiman (; May 27, 1925 – November 30, 1999) was an American theoretical physicist who produced research in the fields of cosmic rays, quantum physics, plasma physics, and gravity physics. He made contributions to the understanding of ...

. He is the son of Ruth and

Irving Adler Irving Adler (April 27, 1913 – September 22, 2012) was an American author, mathematician, scientist, political activist, and educator. He was the author of 57 books (some under the pen name Robert Irving) about mathematics, science, and e ...

, and older brother of Peggy Adler. Adler became a member of the

in 1966, becoming a full professor of

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

in 1969, and was named "New Jersey Albert Einstein Professor" at the institute in 1979. He was elected a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1974, and a member of the

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 ...

in 1975. He has won the J. J. Sakurai Prize from 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 ...

in 1988, and the

Dirac Medal The Dirac Medal or Dirac prize can refer to different awards named in honour of the physics Nobel Laureate Paul Dirac. * Dirac Medal (ICTP), awarded by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste * Dirac Medal (IOP), awar ...

of the

International Centre for Theoretical Physics The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is a research center for physical and mathematical sciences, located in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The center operates under a tripartite agreement between the Gov ...

in 1998, among other awards. Adler's seminal papers on high energy

neutrino A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is an elementary particle that interacts via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass is so small ('' -ino'') that i ...

processes,

current algebra Certain commutation relations among the current density operators in quantum field theories define an infinite-dimensional Lie algebra called a current algebra. Mathematically these are Lie algebras consisting of smooth maps from a manifold into a ...

, soft

pion In particle physics, a pion (, ) or pi meson, denoted with the Greek alphabet, Greek letter pi (letter), pi (), is any of three subatomic particles: , , and . Each pion consists of a quark and an antiquark and is therefore a meson. Pions are the ...

theorems, sum rules, and

perturbation theory In mathematics and applied mathematics, perturbation theory comprises methods for finding an approximate solution to a problem, by starting from the exact solution of a related, simpler problem. A critical feature of the technique is a middle ...

anomalies helped lay the foundations for the current

standard model The Standard Model of particle physics is the Scientific theory, theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetism, electromagnetic, weak interaction, weak and strong interactions – excluding gravity) in the unive ...

of elementary

particle physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

. In 2012, Adler contributed to a family venture when he wrote the foreword for his then 99-year-old father's 87th book, '' Solving the Riddle of Phyllotaxis: Why the Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Ratio Occur on Plants''. The book's diagrams are by his sister Peggy.

Trace dynamics

In his book ''Quantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon'', published 2004, Adler presented his trace dynamics, a framework in which

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...

emerges from a matrix theory. In this matrix theory, particles are represented by non-commuting matrices, and the matrix elements of

boson In particle physics, a boson ( ) is a subatomic particle whose spin quantum number has an integer value (0, 1, 2, ...). Bosons form one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particle, the other being fermions, which have half odd-intege ...

ic and

fermion In particle physics, a fermion is a subatomic particle that follows Fermi–Dirac statistics. Fermions have a half-integer spin (spin 1/2, spin , Spin (physics)#Higher spins, spin , etc.) and obey the Pauli exclusion principle. These particles i ...

ic particles are ordinary

complex number In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the for ...

s and non-commuting

Grassmann number In mathematical physics, a Grassmann number, named after Hermann Grassmann (also called an anticommuting number or supernumber), is an element of the exterior algebra of a complex vector space. The special case of a 1-dimensional algebra is known a ...

s, respectively. Using the action principle, a

Lagrangian Lagrangian may refer to: Mathematics * Lagrangian function, used to solve constrained minimization problems in optimization theory; see Lagrange multiplier ** Lagrangian relaxation, the method of approximating a difficult constrained problem with ...

can be constructed from the

trace Trace may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995 * ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993 * Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band * ''The Trace'' (album), by Nell Other uses in arts and entertainment * ...

of a polynomial function of these matrices, leading to Hamiltonian equations of motion. The construction of a

statistical mechanics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applicati ...

of these matrix models leads, so Adler says, to an "emergent effective complex quantum field theory". Adler's trace dynamics has been discussed in relation to the differential space theory of quantum systems by

Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and philosopher. He became a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener late ...

and Amand Siegel, to its variant by

David Bohm David Joseph Bohm (; 20 December 1917 – 27 October 1992) was an American scientist who has been described as one of the most significant Theoretical physics, theoretical physicists of the 20th centuryDavid Peat Who's Afraid of Schrödinger' ...

and Jeffrey Bub, and to modifications of the

Schrödinger equation The Schrödinger equation is a partial differential equation that governs the wave function of a non-relativistic quantum-mechanical system. Its discovery was a significant landmark in the development of quantum mechanics. It is named after E ...

by additional terms such as the quantum potential term or stochastic terms, and to

hidden variable theories In physics, a hidden-variable theory is a deterministic model which seeks to explain the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics by introducing additional, possibly inaccessible, variables. The mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics as ...

Works

* ''Quantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon: The Statistical Mechanics of Matrix Models as the Precursor of Quantum Field Theory'', Cambridge University Press, 2004, , 978-0-521-83194-9
''Adventures in Theoretical Physics: Selected Papers of Stephen Adler with Commentaries: Selected Papers with Commentaries''
World Scientific Series in 20th Century Physics, World Scientific Publishing Co., 2006,
text at archive.org
* ''The Guide to PAMIR, Theory and Use of Parameterized Adaptive Multidimensional Integration Routines'', World Scientific Publishing Co., 2012,
''Quaternionic Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Fields''
International Series of Monographs on Physics, Oxford University Press, 1994,

References

External links

Adler's page at the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study

Commentaries for Adler's selected papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Stephen L. 1939 births Living people Scientists from New York City 21st-century American physicists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Harvard University alumni Princeton University alumni Institute for Advanced Study faculty Putnam Fellows Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recipients Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge

Biography

Trace dynamics

See also

Works

References

External links