The Biggest Ideas in the Universe | 9. Fields

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe is a series of videos where I talk informally about some of the fundamental concepts that help us understand our natural world. Exceedingly casual, not overly polished, and meant for absolutely everybody.

This is Idea #9, "Fields." A little bit about classical fields, but mostly concentrating on quantum field theory, and in particular on why a quantized field ends up looking like particles. This one is a bit challenging!

#science #physics #ideas #universe #learning #cosmology #philosophy #quantum #fields

[chrismoon]

Dr Carrol I'd like to thank you for taking the time to make this interesting series of videos.
I'm 70, a retired "blue collar" worker, neither gifted nor bright, nevertheless interested in the world and your lectures/talks have shed light on things which have fascinated me but were beyond my comprehension. Am also enjoying reading "Something Deeply Hidden".
You have brought a lot of joy, understanding and pleasure to an old man. Thank you.

[Emanresu]

Sean, don't drown yourself! There are so many things to live for!

[Amir-vwrk]

Sean, please, don't stop making this content!

[ExistentialistDasein]

This series is a great source of comfort during the current lockdown. Thank you for continuing!

[DirectorSciences]

Sean, thank you. What a beautiful balance you've established in this series between faithfulness to the current academic discipline and yet accessibility by the 'unwashed masses'. I find myself in what's probably the sweet spot of your 'ideal viewer profile' - limited but significant general academic background in math & physics + infinite curiosity and a deep & abiding desire to understand the physical world. As such, I greatly appreciate the (clearly sizable) personal investment you're making in synopsizing (and extending) your generous contributions to my cohort with Big Picture, SDH, Particle At The End…, et al. Please know that I am grateful! All the best. -b

[EverythingQuestion]

"It's beggining to seem....hard" meanwhile I've been pretending to understand for a few videos now. lol. Love these. Great job.

[schelsullivan]

Good job socially isolating. The middle of the ocean.

[matthewkrellwitz]

10/10 best content on the interweb.
Thanks Sean!

[billg.]

Thank you. This is like a college physics course without having to actually do problems! I'm glad you don't shy away from the math, I want to see it, but don't want to do it.

[salvatronprime]

Thank you so much for this series. It's so awesome to get the most current date theory and details in a very concise and easily understood format!

[xcq]

This is exactly the intermediate cohesive introduction to these topics that I have sought for for years. The last time I've had such insights on new topics was probably in University. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in such an elaborate way.

[zicada]

I just have to say i love this thumbnail

[matt_w]

Watching these now a year after they were published and they're exactly what I was looking for: a down-to-the-metal description of how all this stuff works without all the pop-sci fluff that surrounds these topics. Thank you so much for taking the time to make this series. It's a monumental effort.

An interesting note: you use the word "quantize" to (I think) refer to taking a classical phenomenon and bringing it into the paradigm of quantum mechanics. This terminology is disorienting to an electrical engineer: "quantize" to me invariably means to take a sampled continuous amplitude signal and place each sample in an amplitude "bin" that can be labelled with a fixed-width binary number. We talk about quantization noise and various ways to mitigate its effects. That seems emphatically to not be what you're talking about here. You're talking about taking something with a single classical configuration and describing it as a superposition of configurations characterized by a probability function, all of which exhibit fully continuous behavior in space, time, and amplitude.

[alvarorodriguez]

Thank you! No popular physics explanation has gone so far. Live long and prosper!

[alexd.alessandro]

May I say that though I understand little of the talk, I am enchanted by the utter humility and spirit of generosity of this beautiful person.
Makes me think of Socrates.
Thank you and all the best!

[jeangatti]

Clearly the very best explanation I've ever seen for describing QFT principles, many thanks

[Cooldrums]

This video takes me back to my undergraduate days studying nuclear engineering. You even threw in a tiny partial diff eq (S wave eq). So much fun to watch this because QFT wasn't even covered in my graduate work. Thanks for this one Prof.

[sandrasandra]

Dr Sean, you explain beautifully well, in a pleasant way, and speak very clearly, which is very important for those like me who are learning English

[bruinflight]

Sean you are so brilliant. No fault that I'm a layman, but I sure wish I could talk about these things with the depth of understanding and intuition you do. It's amazing to listen to you and there are parts I feel I understand more, but the math and subtleties therewith leave me behind. That's unfortunate too because I do love math! Great series, please keep your chats coming!

[jorgefigueroa]

Sean, you are a terrific teacher, you make complicated things so easy to understand, you really have an special way of communicating, I’m enjoying every single one of your lectures.
I do like your books, also, I recommend it to everybody out there who loves science.