Jeffrey Goldstone facts for kids

Jeffrey Goldstone, born on September 3, 1933, is a British theoretical physicist. This means he studies the ideas and math behind how the universe works, rather than doing experiments. He used to teach physics at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics and also worked at the University of Cambridge. He is famous for discovering something called the Nambu–Goldstone boson. Today, he is working on quantum computation, which involves using the strange rules of quantum mechanics to build super-fast computers.

Jeffrey Goldstone's Early Life and Studies

Jeffrey Goldstone was born in Manchester, England. He went to school at Manchester Grammar School. Later, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned his first degree in 1954 and his Ph.D. in 1958.

Studying Nuclear Matter

For his Ph.D., Goldstone worked with a famous scientist named Hans Bethe. He studied something called nuclear matter. This is the stuff that makes up the inside of atomic nuclei.

Goldstone developed special ways to draw diagrams, now called Goldstone diagrams. These diagrams help scientists understand how particles behave in many-fermion systems. In 1957, he proved the linked-cluster theorem. This theorem showed that only certain types of diagrams are important for calculations.

Research in Particle Physics

From 1956 to 1960, Goldstone was a research fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. During this time, he also visited other research centers like Copenhagen, CERN, and Harvard.

Discovering the Goldstone Boson

His research then shifted to particle physics. This field studies the tiny particles that make up everything. He looked at how relativistic field theories behave when their symmetries are broken.

With other scientists, Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg, he proved that in such theories, special particles with zero mass must exist. These particles are now known as Nambu–Goldstone bosons.

Working with Relativistic Strings

From 1962 to 1976, Goldstone was a professor at Cambridge. In the early 1970s, he worked with Peter Goddard, Claudio Rebbi, and Charles Thorn. They developed a theory called light-cone quantization for relativistic strings. This theory helps explain how tiny strings of energy might make up particles.

Moving to the United States

In 1977, Jeffrey Goldstone moved to the USA. He became a Professor of Physics at MIT. Since 1983, he has been the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics. He also led the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics from 1983 to 1989.

Later Research Topics

Goldstone has published important research on different topics:

• He studied solitons in quantum field theory with Roman Jackiw and Frank Wilczek. Solitons are special waves that keep their shape as they travel.
• He also worked on the quantum strong law of large numbers with Edward Farhi and Samuel Gutmann. This is a concept in quantum mechanics related to probabilities.

Since 1997, Goldstone has been working on quantum computation algorithms. He does this with Farhi, Gutmann, Michael Sipser, and Andrew Childs. Their work aims to create new ways for quantum computers to solve complex problems.

Awards and Honors

Jeffrey Goldstone has received many awards for his important work:

• He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977.
• He was also made a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
• In 1987, he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
• Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied, made him an Honorary Fellow in 2000.
• In 1981, he won the Dannie Heineman Prize. This was for his contributions to nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, and quantum field theory.
• He received the Guthrie Medal from the Institute of Physics in London in 1983.
• In 1991, he was awarded the Dirac Medal from the International Center for Theoretical Physics.

See also

• Adiabatic quantum computation
• Effective action
• Goldstinos
• Sgoldstino
• Goldstone's theorem
• Quantum approximate optimization algorithm