Topic: Continuum Schwinger Function Methods for Hadron Physics
Speaker: Dr. Chen Chen
Coordinates: PCFT C1124, 16:00, Thursday, Mar. 17
Abstract: Almost all the Universe's visible matter is comprised from nucleons and the nuclei they constitute; but even after a century of striking progress in subatomic physics, a true understanding of these principal building blocks is still lacking. The problem resides in quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the Standard Model component that describes interactions between quarks and gluons, and hence is supposed to explain nucleon and nuclear structure. The properties of this theory are some of Nature's best kept secrets. QCD presents science with a unique problem: never before have we faced a theory whose elementary degrees-of-freedom are not those readily accessible via experiment, i.e. whose basic quanta are confined, by forces stronger than any previously encountered.QCD originated in schematic quantum mechanical models of hadrons, introduced nearly sixty years ago. The interim has seen a clear formulation of perturbative QCD and development of simulation methods for lattice-QCD. It has also produced crucial steps toward a practical formulation of the continuum bound-state problem in quantum field theory (QFT). Most prominent amongst today's continuum Schwinger function methods for QCD are the Dyson-Schwinger equations (DSEs), which provide a powerful approach to the continuum QFT bound-state problem. My research has focused on the systematic development of continuum Schwinger function methods for quantum field theory and their use for the prediction of phenomena within the realm of strong interactions in the Standard Model of particle physics. In this talk I will briefly report a few of the most important and innovative results I have introduced to the community.