Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh

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Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh ( ; 11 March 1933 - November 18, 2000) was an Irish physicist in the field of theoretical particle physics. He is renowned for O'Raifeartaigh's Theorem, results in unification theory, and Model O'Raifeartaigh about the termination of supersymmetry.

O'Raifeartaigh was born in Clontarf, Dublin in 1933, and most of his scientific career was centered in the city, where he earned his first degree at University College Dublin (BA in 1953 and MSc in Mathematical Physics in 1956), and spent from 1968 until his death as Senior Professor at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Zurich in 1960, under Walter Heitler. He also visited many institutions, notably Madras, IHES Bures, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, but during an extended stay at Syracuse University (1964-8) that he made discoveries that built his reputation. This result, which came to be known as O'Raifeartaigh's relentless theorem, shows that it is impossible to combine internal and relativistic symmetries in a trivial way, thus ending the widespread search by the particle physics community to achieve this fusion. O'Raifeartaigh's theorem was then generalized to a result known as the Coleman-Mandula theorem.

The productive career of O'Raifeartaigh in theoretical physics is manifested by many fundamental contributions to the application of symmetry in particle physics. In the 1970s he pointed out that the new supersymmetry could provide the mechanism (O'Raifeartaigh mechanism) to circumvent his no-go theorem that assumes only classical Lie symmetry. In the 1980s he applied the non-Abelian measurement theory to the analysis of magnetic monopoles. His interests include the spin-statistical theorem, Kac-Moody and W-algebras, and include initial contributions to the theory of non-invariance (dynamic) groups, among many other things. His long and productive career in the application of the symmetry method to theoretical physics was recognized by the Wigner Medal award in August 2000.

Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh

Selasa, 05 Juni 2018