Wolfhart Zimmermann (17 February 1928 – 18 September 2016) was a German theoretical physicist, known for his contribution in

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 ...

. He is one of the developers of the

LSZ reduction formula In quantum field theory, the Lehmann–Symanzik–Zimmermann (LSZ) reduction formula is a method to calculate ''S''-matrix elements (the scattering amplitudes) from the time-ordered correlation functions of a quantum field theory. It is a step ...

Biography

Zimmermann was born in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. Zimmermann attained a doctorate in 1950 at

Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg ...

in topology. In 1952, he joined the group of

Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg (; ; 5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics and a principal scientist in the German nuclear program during World War II. He pub ...

at the

Max Planck Institute The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. There he became one of the pioneers of the mathematical

. He developed the LSZ theory with Kurt Symanzik and

Harry Lehmann Harry Lehmann (21 March 1924 in Güstrow22 November 1998 in Hamburg) was a German physicist. Known for his work on correlation functions in quantum field theory. Biography Lehmann studied physics at Rostock and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berl ...

. Their research group was referred as the Field Club () by

Wolfgang Pauli Wolfgang Ernst Pauli ( ; ; 25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and a pioneer of quantum mechanics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the ...

. From 1962 to 1974 he was a professor at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. From 1974 to 1996 he was a director at the

for physics in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, later becoming the "Director Emeritus". Since 1977 he was an honorary professor ("Honorarprofessor") at TU Munich. He took a year-long sabbatical stay 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 ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

(1957/8 and 1960/1), at the

Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU). Founded in 1935, it is named after Richard Courant, one of the founders of the Courant Institute ...

, at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

and at IHES in Paris. In addition to his work on the LSZ formalism he is also known for the development of Bogolyubov - Parasiuk

renormalization Renormalization is a collection of techniques in quantum field theory, statistical field theory, and the theory of self-similar geometric structures, that is used to treat infinities arising in calculated quantities by altering values of the ...

schema (also BPHZ Renormalization schema named after

Klaus Hepp Klaus Hepp (born 11 December 1936) is a German-born Swiss theoretical physicist working mainly in quantum field theory. Hepp studied mathematics and physics at Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität in Münster and at the Eidgenössischen Technis ...

and Zimmermann). Along with

Kenneth G. Wilson Kenneth Geddes "Ken" Wilson (June 8, 1936 – June 15, 2013) was an American theoretical physicist and a pioneer in using computers for studying particle physics. He was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on phase tran ...

he was one of the pioneers in applications of

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 ...

in quantum field theory. With Reinhard Oehme of the

Enrico Fermi Institute __NOTOC__ The Institute for Nuclear Studies was founded September 1945 as part of the University of Chicago with Samuel King Allison as director. On November 20, 1955, it was renamed The Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies. The name was ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

(with whom he already collaborated in Göttingen in the 1950s), he worked on the reduction of coupling parameters with group renormalization methods and introduced superconvergence relations for the propagator (

gauge field In physics, a gauge theory is a type of field theory in which the Lagrangian, and hence the dynamics of the system itself, does not change under local transformations according to certain smooth families of operations (Lie groups). Formally, t ...

propagator In quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, the propagator is a function that specifies the probability amplitude for a particle to travel from one place to another in a given period of time, or to travel with a certain energy and momentum. I ...

) into

Yang–Mills theory Yang–Mills theory is a quantum field theory for nuclear binding devised by Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills in 1953, as well as a generic term for the class of similar theories. The Yang–Mills theory is a gauge theory based on a special un ...

, to establish connections between the borders of high energy (e.g.

asymptotic freedom In quantum field theory, asymptotic freedom is a property of some gauge theory, gauge theories that causes interactions between particles to become asymptotically weaker as the energy scale increases and the corresponding length scale decreases. (A ...

) and low energy (

confinement Confinement may refer to: * With respect to humans: ** An old-fashioned or archaic synonym for childbirth ** Postpartum confinement (or postnatal confinement), a system of recovery after childbirth, involving rest and special foods ** Civil confi ...

). In 1991 he received the

Max Planck medal The Max Planck Medal is the highest award of the German Physical Society , the world's largest organization of physicists, for extraordinary achievements in theoretical physics. The prize has been awarded annually since 1929, with few exceptions ...

References

Sources

* Peter Breitenlohner (Ed.) "Quantum Field Theory- Proceedings on the Ringberg Workshop, Tegernsee 1998, On the Occasion of Wolfhart Zimmermann´s 70. Birthday", Lecture Notes in Physics 558, Springer, 1998. * Zimmermann "Local operator products and renormalization in Quantum Field Theory", Brandeis Summer Institute in Theoretical Physics Lectures 1970, pp. 399–589

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Wolfhart 1928 births 2016 deaths Theoretical physicists 20th-century German physicists German theoretical physicists New York University faculty Scientists from Freiburg im Breisgau Winners of the Max Planck Medal