Hugh David Politzer, Caltech, Pasadena, California

Articles: Phys. Rev. Letters 30 (1973), Phys. Rep. 14 (1974)
ArXiv (26)
Homepage(s): American Academy, inSPIRE^HEP, Michigan, Nobel, Wikipedia, YouTube

First email: 29 November 2022 at 4:41 PM

Dear Prof. Dr. H. David Politzer:

In December 2012 I approached Frank Wilczek with a peculiar question about a path our high school geometry classes had followed deep inside the tetrahedron and the octahedron within it. Dividing the edges by 2, connecting the new vertices, we went down 45 steps to particle physics, and then 67 more steps to the Planck scale numbers. We turned around, used the Planck numbers, multiplied by 2 and in 112 steps we were back in our classroom and in another 90 steps we were well over 13.79+ billion years and a size just a little under estimated current size of the universe which would include the current expansion.

That first chart quickly became the fourth chart for our working numbers. 202 base-2 notations had mapped the universe: https://81018.com/stem/

Pi and her continuity-symmetry-harmony became our penultimates. It changed everything:
1. There is an infinitesimal domain for perfected states in space-time.
2. There is a geometry for fluctuations.
3. In time, I am confident it will shine a new light on asymptotic freedom.

I thought you might find these links among all the idiosyncratic ones out there to be a challenge. It’s banjo physics all over again, “Just pick it up and play…” It’s mixed metaphors with pineapples and Hussey’s songs cutting through icy caverns.

That’s enough already!

If you are still with this old man (75), it’s your turn!

Warmly,

Bruce

PS.  I am hearing challenged; there’s a bit too much sound competition within your recording of The Simple Harmonic Oscillator. Are your lyrics posted anywhere? -BEC

*From his reflections on banjo physics, Hugh David Politzer (HDP) tells this story:

“In August 1914, twenty year old Leonard Hussey joined Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole. In October 1915, their ship was ground to bits by ice floes. Escaping on lifeboats, the crew members were restricted to two pounds of personal belongings. But Shackleton insisted that Hussey also bring his banjo, saying, “We must have that banjo. It is vital mental medicine.” Eventually, Shackleton set out with a small party to get a rescue ship for his stranded crew. On August 30, 1916, all were saved — with no loss of life.

The walnut instrument in the photo is from the same manufacturer and essentially the same model as Hussey’s, only about thirty years newer.