Robert G. C. Smith

PhD student string/M-theory @UniofNottingham, funded also by @PhysicsNews. maths ⟷ physics: nonperturbative theory | scattering amplitudes | duality + geometry

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

Terrific thread on developments and directions re. tropical amplitudes.

[pilk @pilkself]

@rgcsmith Hey! I really like your blog! It's a bit surprising that not many people have written more explicitly on this (of course, a great reference is Piotr Tourkine's "Tropical Amplitudes" paper) relation between string amplitudes and Feynman diagrams 1/n

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

@pilkself Many great comments and observations. I'm familiar with these papers and ongoing developments, and am with you on many points in terms of outlook. I have a few interests in all of this. A bit short on time - I just wanted to thank you for the great thread 👍🤘. Going to repost.

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

Tropical numbers, arithmetic, and polynomials
https://t.co/ubJEZaj8dy

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

First entry on tropical geometry for scattering amplitudes
https://t.co/3xN1Vm2reM

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

Modular shadows in various guises
https://t.co/oksc3aBAU4

[Jostein Hauge @haugejostein]

One of the biggest systemic failures of the UK economy is that the best maths and science graduates work in finance rather than the STEM professions that actually build a productive economy.

[Joseph Conlon @JosephPConlon]

The road diverged in the woods. Do you (a) read about the work of one of the (no hype) great scientists and great public intellectuals of the 20th century (b) watch a youtube channel telling you that everything is bullshit?

The choice is yours

https://t.co/8QB1Rjh6yL

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

This reminds me of the time spent thinking about large classes of non-analytic smooth functions and our etas. Super interesting and it is one several related research pathways for us for the future. Come to think of it, I might write a blog about this.

[Quanta Magazine @QuantaMagazine]

This is the Weierstrauss function, a “monster” that is continuous everywhere but differentiable nowhere. First published in 1872, it prompted scrutiny of assumptions in calculus. Similar functions are used to study random motion and analyze risk. https://t.co/tMXyKuJIrC

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

@ThomasVanRiet2 It's a nice story, and a reminder that people are complicated.

Aside: I think being hardlined about anything is irrational. It shuts down critical thinking by the nature of the limited epistemological view being undertaken. I write about this a lot b/c I think it's interesting.

[Math Lady Hazel 🇦🇷 @mathladyhazel]

The growing inaccessibility of science.

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

I wrote a quick post about this a couple months ago [https://t.co/3qOoji2a9E] based on Harder's paper and also on the work by Harer and Zagier. There is still something here that I want to return to in the future.

[Topology Fact @TopologyFact]

Gauss-Bonnet: The integral of Gaussian curvature over a manifold is 2π times its Euler characteristic.

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

I’ve started a second blog (@dialoguesblog): https://t.co/a93F35LMTK

Post about it also on my physics blog: https://t.co/ALd8kwHw3S

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

@WKCosmo Sadly, this is true in many cases.

[Martin Bauer @martinmbauer]

My colleagues in Durham used optical tweezers to realise long-lived entanglement between pairs of molecules

The progress in this field is astonishing

https://t.co/tJoBuUVDXL

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

@ThomasVanRiet2 From what I’ve seen, many people flock to Bluesky in hopes to reestablish an echo chamber.

Maybe I am an outlier, but I’ve actually been enjoying this platform more lately. It has opened up a wider variety of perspectives on many topics. Interesting, even if I don't always agree

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

@ThomasVanRiet2 What I don’t understand is why everything has to be reduced to an ideology. It’s a completely insane way to approach things. Once someone adopts an ideology, they stop caring about reality and focus solely on satisfying their worldview, presuming some form of moral authority.

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

Number theory and physics workshop this week (20-23 Jan). Some nice talks so far [https://t.co/ChIIMwNDAV]

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

Tropical amplitudes, moduli space, and positive geometries
[https://t.co/9JFZm0x0dA]

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

Rankin-Selberg method
[https://t.co/VjFP4YJDn7]

[Robert G. C. Smith @rgcsmith]

Notes on string theory #9: equations of motion, wave equation, and general solution

[https://t.co/rstOlVALcX]
#Physics #strings