“Theoretical mathematics”: toward a cultural synthesis of mathematics and theoretical physics

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society - Tập 29 Số 1 - Trang 1-13
Arthur Jaffe, Frank Quinn

Tóm tắt

Is speculative mathematics dangerous? Recent interactions between physics and mathematics pose the question with some force: traditional mathematical norms discourage speculation, but it is the fabric of theoretical physics. In practice there can be benefits, but there can also be unpleasant and destructive consequences. Serious caution is required, and the issue should be considered before, rather than after, obvious damage occurs. With the hazards carefully in mind, we propose a framework that should allow a healthy and positive role for speculation.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

P. W. Anderson, Concepts in solids, W. A. Benjamin, Inc, New York, 1964.

J. Dieudonné, A history of algebraic and differential topology 1900-1960, Birkhäuser, Basel, 1988.

D. Eisenbud and J. Harris, Progress in the theory of complex algebraic curves, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 21 (1989), 205.

R. P. Feynman, Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman: adventures of a curious character, W. W. Norton, New York, 1985.

J.-M. Fontaine, Valeurs spéciales des fonctions L des motifs, Séminaire Bourbaki, Exposé 751, Février 1992, pp. 1-45.

J. Gleick, Chaos: making a new science, Viking Penguin Inc., New York, 1987.

\bysame, Genius: the life and science of Richard Feynman, Pantheon, New York, 1992.

G. Holton, private communication.

A. Jaffe, Mathematics motivated by physics, Proc. Sympos. Pure Math., vol. 50, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1990, pp. 137-150.

J. Kollar, The structure of algebraic threefolds: an introduction to Mori’s program, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 17 (1987), 211.

S. G. Krantz, Fractal geometry, Math. Intelligencer 11 (1989), 12-16.

L. Landau and E. Lifshitz, Statistical physics, Oxford Univ. Press, London, 1938.

R. McCormmach, ed., Historical studies in the physical sciences, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ, 1975.

A. Weil, Foundations of algebraic geometry, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1946.

E. H. Witten, Quantum field theory and the Jones polynomial, Comm. Math. Phys. 121 (1989), 351-399.