🚀 go-pugleaf

>>I write:
>>My understanding is that
>> particle theories have been in turn influenced by solid-state theories
>> (e.g., non-perturbative field theories are greatly influenced by the
>> BCS theory of superconductivity).
>> -- 

>parson_r@cubldr.colorado.edu (Robert Parson) writes:
> Which is why some condensed-matter physics books talk about the "Anderson-
>Higgs mechanism."
>Robert

What is the Anderson-Higgs mechanism?  My very limited understanding
of the Higgs mechanism is that a new gauge boson (which would be
called a collective mode in solid-state) is postulated to explain how
the fundamental particles (which would be the quasiparticles) obtain
their different mass energies (which would be the effective mass).
Did Anderson actually contribute to Higgs' theory as it applies to
GUTs, or does he have new version for solid-state?  Are there specific
applications of this mechanism that you know about?

I am amazed that I have never seen the "Anderson-Higgs method"
referred to in Big Phil's papers and books.  You would think that he
would want to associate his name with Higgs as part of his quest for a
second Nobel prize.

[For all you particle weenies, Phil Anderson is a Bell Labs/Princeton
theorist who has developed theories of 3He, disordered metals, HiTc
superconductivity, and many other areas.  He occasionally writes a
column for _Physics Today_.   He won the Nobel in the '70's for his
disordered metals (localization) work.]
-- 
Alison Chaiken 				alison@wsrcc.com
(510) 422-7129 [daytime] 		or chaiken@cmsgee.llnl.gov
Look if you like, but you will have to leap.