Y. S. Kim's Interest in Elementary Particle Theory
I worry about the following problems in particle physics
-
Observer on his bicycle: Hadrons are bound states of quarks
with their space-time extensions. If one of them is on your desk, you
would use quantum mechanics of bound state with localized probability
distribution, like that of hydrogen atom. How would this look to an
observer on his bicyle?
- Feynman's Parton Picture.
What would happen if the bicyle moves with a speed close to that of light?
-
Gauge Transformations: A particle at rest has three
rotational degrees of freedom. A massless particle has one
helicity degree of freedom and gauge degrees of freedom. The
question then is whether they are two different manifestations
of one covariant entity, as Einstein's energy-momentum relation
gives two different relations for massive and massless particles.
- Neutrino Polarization
as a Consequence of Gauge Invariance.
Lorentz Group: The above three problems are based on
symmetry of the Lorentz group. I made a very heavy investment in
this subject, and wrote many papers on applications of the Lorentz
group to various problems in physics including those in particle
theory and quantum optics.
