Peter West (physicist) facts for kids

Peter Christopher West, born on December 4, 1951, is a British theoretical physicist. He works at King's College London and is a Fellow of the Royal Society. This means he is part of a very important group of scientists.

In 2006, Professor West was chosen for the Royal Society. They recognized him for his work on a theory called supersymmetry. This theory helps us understand the basic particles and forces in the universe. His discoveries are key parts of modern string theory. He continues to contribute to these ideas.

With his colleagues, Peter West was one of the first to create two types of theories. These are called type IIA supergravity and type IIB supergravity. These theories combine supersymmetry with general relativity. They help explain many features of tiny strings and branes.

Professor West also started a research group. This group at King's College London studies supersymmetry and string theory.

Early Life and Education

Peter West finished high school at Liverpool College. He then studied physics at Imperial College London. He earned his first degree there in 1973. After that, he continued his studies for a PhD. His teacher was Abdus Salam, a famous physicist. Peter West finished his PhD in 1976.

After his studies, he worked in Paris and then back at Imperial College London. In 1978, he moved to King's College London. He has also worked for short times at other universities. These include Stony Brook University, California Institute of Technology, and CERN.

What Did Peter West Discover?

Peter West is a leader in the field of supersymmetry. He also helped apply it to string theory. He found many quantum properties of supersymmetric theories. These discoveries helped scientists understand how supersymmetry might work in nature.

Supergravity Theories

Professor West helped create two main supergravity theories. These theories exist in ten dimensions. One is the IIA theory. The other is the IIB theory, which he developed with Paul Howe and John Henry Schwarz. These theories are very important for understanding string theory. They help explain how strings and branes behave.

Peter West also worked with Kellogg Stelle. They found a way to describe supergravity in four dimensions. This description uses four supersymmetries. Their work, along with others, helped build the most general supersymmetric theory. This theory is very important for creating realistic models in physics.

Understanding Gravity and Strings

Peter West, along with Ali Chamseddine, found a new way to describe gravity. They also described supergravity using a concept called Yang–Mills theory. This helped prove that supergravity theories are supersymmetric. Their method has been used to create other theories.

Later, Peter West worked with André Neveu. They helped develop a new way to understand string theory. This method is called gauge covariant string theory. It describes how strings interact. Edward Witten later completed this idea for open string theory.

More recently, Peter West has suggested a new idea for M-theory. This theory is thought to be the main theory behind strings and branes. He believes it has a very large symmetry. This symmetry is called E11. He has shown that this idea includes all the main supergravity theories.

Books by Peter West

Peter West has written several books to explain his work.

• Introduction to Supersymmetry and Supergravity, P. West (World Scientific Publishing, 1986)
• Introduction to Strings and Branes, P. West (Cambridge University Press, 2012)