物理学会の年会が終わり、ほっと一息ついている帰路の新幹線の車内である．
学会では、午前と午後のセッションをそれぞれ１セッションとすると素粒子論領域で７セッションあったのだが、素粒子論の部屋に座ったのは結局そのうち３セッションだけだった．残りは他の領域をうろうろ．物性の領域１（量子エレクトロニクス）、領域５（光誘起相転移）、領域８（強相関電子系）や、理論核物理、宇宙物理などのシンポをはしごする．面白いものもあればまったく言葉がわからないセッションも．楽しい．
新幹線に乗って、なんだか寂しい気分になったのは、素粒子論のセッションに座っていた時間が少なかったせいか、友人たちと会って議論したりする時間が少なかったからかもしれない．夜は素粒子論委員会と素粒子論懇談会、無事委員長の一年が終わったのも、ホッとしたのかもしれない．物性のセッションに行って、新材料とかまったく分からずポツンと過ごしたのが思い出されて俺なにやってんねんやろなと思ったのかもしれない．
なにしか学会が終わって、今年度が終わって、なんとなくまた日記を書く気分になって、新幹線で久しぶりに書いてみることにしている．久しぶりと言えば、この３ヶ月、日記を書かなかったのだが、それも研究に没頭していたからだ．今日、その成果の論文を二つ出した．
一つ目は飯塚君との共著で、超弦理論を物性に応用する話．ランダウのフェルミ流体で成り立つラッティンジャーの定理（フェルミ面の囲う体積が荷電密度に比例するという関係式）を、重力理論に等価に写したときに、どの程度ユニバーサリティがあるのかを調べた．フェルミ面の重要な性質が高次元重力におけるガウスの法則で表される．面白すぎるよね．
二つ目は飯塚君と格子QCDの青木慎也さんとの共著で、超弦理論を原子核理論に応用する話．フレーバーが３以上の量子色力学を等価な重力理論に写し、バリオンにユニバーサルに斥力芯が存在するということを示した．中性子星の中心の物理に貢献できるかもしれない．この論文には、非専門家向けの長いレビューを付けた．超弦理論によるクォークの力学の計算に興味を持つ方にぜひ見ていただきたく思っている．
いずれも様々な議論や計算が思い起こされ、それが今日、世に出たのは、大変嬉しい．で、ホッとしている．読んでやってください．
以前は学会に参加しながらプログラムに面白かった講演の講評を自分で書き込んだりしていたものだが、結局学会から帰って来てそれを見直したりはあまりしないので、自己満足に陥っていたことに気付いた．で、今回は、ノート１ページに、今後研究になりそうなタネだけをメモしてみた．さて、それがどれだけ育つかな．学会や研究会は、自分の研究成果を議論するためだけのものではなく、タネを見つけるためのものでもある．今回は少しタネが出来たので、それで良かったことにする．安心してしまわないようにせねば．
新材料のシンポを聞いていて、良くわかった．自分の興味はここに集まっている人たちの興味の方向と直交している．ツライ．だからこそ聞きに行って良かった．僕の物理を掘り下げるということは、他の人の物理を知り、直交する方向に掘ることだ．
why host articles that cannot be read?
Dave,
Consider that English is likely not Koji’s first language, and most of the people who follow him are probably Japanese – I think it makes sense for him to write for them as well as for us. That’s my interpretation. Regardless, I have offered a translation below, which I hope will suffice!
Whew – OK, massive disclaimer this time because I am not feeling confident about this translation… but I can’t spend too much time obsessing over it at the moment
The Physics Society and Intercourse with Outside Fields
I was sitting in the train carriage of the Kiro Shinkansen [Translator’s Note: Japanese Bullet Train – super fast, super comfy, SUPER expensive
], taking a relieved breath after the Annual Physics Society meeting.
At this academic meeting, there was one session each during the morning and evening. There were 7 Particle Physics sessions, but in the end, I only sat through three of these sessions. During the remaining time, I perused other fields [TN: academic domains]. I did some symposium hopping, by attending Physics Field 1 (Quantum Electronics), Field 5 (Photo-induced phase transition), Field 8 (Strongly Correlated Electron Systems) , Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics sessions. There were some that were amusing, and some in which I didn’t understand single word. It was great fun!
When taking the Shinkansen, I feel something like loneliness [TN: like nostalgia, but not quite] – perhaps because I spent so little time sitting in on Particle Physics sessions, or perhaps because I spent so little time having discussions and debates with friends. At night, it was the Particle Physics Committee Meeting and Particle Physics Social, and my year as Safety Chairperson was over, so perhaps I was heaving a sigh of relief. When I went to the some of the Physics sessions, I remember not understanding anything about the new materials and spending my time there alone, to the point where I asked myself what I was actually doing there!
The first was co-authored with Iizuka-kun [Translators note: “kun” is a Japanese familiar title – there is no English equivalent – English-speakers would normally just say Mr. Iizuka], and features the application of superstring theory to physics (physical properties). We investigated the degree of universality when gravity theory is equivalently superimposed on Luttinger theory, which is based on the Landau theory of Fermi-liquids (the formula describing the proportional relationship between the volume enclosed by the Fermi-surface and the charge density). An important property of Fermi-liquids is the Gauss Rule of higher-dimensional gravity. Extremely interesting. [Translator’s Note: I’m not a physicist, so I might have fluffed the description, but I did find the arXiv paper (http://arxiv.org/pdf/1203.5388.pdf) referred to above, so please refer to the paper for further details!]
The next paper was co-authored with Iizuka-kun and Shinya Aogi, of Lattice QCD fame, and featured the practical application of superstring theory to nuclear theory. Based on the matrix model, we derive the baryon interaction at short distances in multi-flavor holographic QCD. We show that there is a very universal repulsive core of inter-baryon forces for generic number of flavors. [Translator’s note: this time I took the two corresponding sentences directly from the relevant arXiv paper (http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.5386)!] Perhaps this will contribute to physics focusing on neutron stars. We also attached a long review aimed at non-experts to this manuscript. Anyone who is interested in the calculations of quark mechanics in superstring theory should definitely take a look.
Anyway, I have recalled various discussions and calculations that have received global attention, so I’m very happy about it. I am heaving another sigh of relief. I hope you get to read through them.
Previously, while participating in academic meetings, I would review the interesting lectures on the program, but now that I’m on the trip back from the academic meeting, I haven’t really had time to have another look, so I feel like I have fallen into a sort of self-complacency. So, this time, I took a page out of a notebook to jot down points about what research I would like to see happen in the future. Hmmm… I wonder how to go about this… Academic meetings and research societies are not simply opportunities to debate the results of one’s own research, but also an opportunity to search for tips [Translator’s note: I think the actual word means “seed” J]. I’ve decided to be happy about the fact that I gathered few seeds this time around. It might be good to be incompletely satisfied.
When listening to the symposium on new materials, I realised something. My own interests are orthogonal [TN: perpendicular, at right angles to] to the interests of the gathered attendees. It kind of sucks. That’s exactly why I was glad that I went to listen in. When investigating my own physics, by learning other people’s physics, I learnt that they were orthogonal to one other.