top of page
cross_peak_20240204.HEIC

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Freigeist Fellow in mathematical physics

    Are you good at explaining concepts in a clear way?

     

    Would you like to make short explainer videos

    in science, tech, or math?

    The Pan-African STM Cinema Competition 

    is a contest in science communication,

    and is now accepting entries.

    • Facebook
    happy female african muslim mathematician writing mathematical equations on a blackboard w
    Seminars 2

    ALGEBRA, PARTICLES, AND QUANTUM THEORY

    Welcome to Round 2 of the Algebra, Particles, and Quantum Theory international online seminar series.

    Talks are not guaranteed to be recorded/posted, therefore it's always best to attend live.  For efficiency reasons, recordings will only be uploaded in large batches.  Most talks will begin at 18:00 Berlin time, but not all, due to the accommodation of time zones.  This time zone calculator may be helpful.  

    To be put on the mailing list for future talks, email me at nichol at aims dot ac dot za .  You may alternatively find access through the research seminars site.

     

     

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    5th December 2022,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Denjoe O'Connor

    DIAS, Dublin

    Fuzzy spaces: An exceptional example

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    16th January 2023,
    11:00am Berlin time
    Note the earlier time

    Shogo Tanimura

    Nagoya University

    Superselection rule from measurement theory

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    6th February 2023
    19:00 Berlin time
    Note the later time

    John Baez

    U. C. Riverside 

    The Tenfold Way

     

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    Thursday, 2nd March 2023
    18:00 Berlin time
    Note unusual day of the week

    Roger Penrose

    University of Oxford

    Twistors and Split-Octonions

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    20th March 2023
    18:00 Berlin time

     

    L Glaser

    University of Vienna

    ​Imaging finite spectral triples

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    28th March 2023
    17:00 Berlin time
    Note the earlier time

    Aiyalam Balachandran

    Syracuse University

    Spin 1/2 from Gluons and a Little More

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    3rd April, 2023
    18:00 Berlin time

     

    John Huerta

    University of Lisbon

    The algebra of grand unified theories

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    1st May 2023
    18:00 Berlin time
     

    Kasia Rejzner

    University of York

    Quantization, Dequantization, and Distinguished States on causal sets and beyond

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    15th May 2023
    19:00 Berlin time
    Note the later time

    John Baez

    U. C. Riverside

    Symmetric spaces and the tenfold way

    stork_large1_edited.jpg

    22nd May, 2023
    18:00 Berlin time

     

    Lev Vaidman

    Tel Aviv University

    The many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and the Born rule

    Seminars 1

    ALGEBRA, PARTICLES, AND QUANTUM THEORY

    Round 1 of the Algebra, Particles, and Quantum Theory international online seminar series

    For slides, please see the speakers' webpages, or contact them directly.

    To be put on the mailing list for future talks, email me at nichol at aims dot ac dot za  .


    minibird.jpg

    1st November 2021,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Lucien Hardy

    Perimeter Institute

    Causaloid Approach to 

    Quantum Theory

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    15th November 2021,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Anna Pachol

    Queen Mary London

    Digital Quantum Geometry

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    29th November 2021,
    18:00 Berlin time

    A. Shadi Tahvildar-Zadeh

    Rutgers University

    Bohmian Mechanics

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    13th December 2021,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Howard Barnum

    Euclidean Jordan Algebras and

    Quantum Theory

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    31st January 2022,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Shahn Majid

    Queen Mary of London

    Octonions as a quasiassociative algebra

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    14th February 2022,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Peter Woit

    Columbia University

    Euclidean Twistor Unification and the Twistor P^1

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    28th February 2022,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Andreas Trautner

    Max Planck Institute

    Symmetries of symmetries

    in particle physics

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    14th March 2022,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Jorge Zanelli

    CECs-Chile

    Local unconventional SUSY

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    11th April 2022,
    17:00 Berlin time
    Note the earlier time

    Tevian Dray and

    Corinne Manogue

    Oregon State University

    A Division Algebra Description of the Magic Square, including E_8

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    25th April 2022,
    17:00 Berlin time
    Note the earlier time

    Corinne Manogue

    and Tevian Dray

    Oregon State University

    E_8 and the Standard Model

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    23rd May 2022,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Markus Müller

    Inst. for quantum optics and quantum information

    Quantum theory and Jordan algebras from simple principles

    Video

    minibird.jpg

    13th June 2022,
    18:00 Berlin time

    Sean Carroll

    Caltech

    Extracting the Universe from the Wave Function

    Video

    Intro
    berlin_wall_face.jpg

    INTRODUCTION


    Welcome to my homepage.

    I am a VW Stiftung Research Fellow

    in mathematical physics

    at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

    email

    nichol at aims dot ac dot za

    My main interests are

    division algebras, Clifford algebras, Jordan algebras,

    and their relation to particle physics.

    Cl(0,8) and the
    Standard Model

     

    ‎bott_title_page3_20240103.‎001.png
    publications



    SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

    * Furey, An algebraic roadmap of particle theories:  Part I:  General construction

    It turns out that six well-known particle models are each interconnected algebraically.  That is, 

    the Spin(10) model, 

    the Pati-Salam model, 

    the Georgi-Glashow model, 

    the Left-Right Symmetric model, 

    the Standard Model, and the 

    Standard Model post-Higgs mechanism.

     

    * Furey, An algebraic roadmap of particle theories:  Part II:  Theoretical checkpoints

     

    This second paper identifies five obstacles that have recurred in algebraic particle models over the years.  That is, it has often proven difficult to:

     

    comply with the Coleman-Mandula theorem,

    evade familiar fermion doubling problems,

    naturally explain the Standard Model’s chirality,

    exclude B-L gauge symmetry at low energy,

    explain the existence of three generations.

     

    This second article demonstrates that [Part I] overcomes the first four of these obstacles, but has yet to address the fifth.  Perhaps more importantly, it also explains an unexpected appearance of SL(2,C) spacetime symmetries.

     

    * Furey, An algebraic roadmap of particle theories:  Part III:  Intersections

     

    This third paper points out a direct algebraic route from the Spin(10) GUT to the Standard Model. 

     

    Interestingly, it is possible to reconfigure this algebraic constraint so that it may be viewed as the requirement that three inequivalent spin(10) actions be simultaneously satisfied.  This appears to mirror certain aspects of the way that division algebraic automorphisms embed inside their triality symmetries. 

     

    Finally, this paper shows that the Standard Model’s post-Higgs symmetries can be identified as the intersection of five inequivalent spin(10) actions.

    * Furey and Hughes, Division algebraic symmetry breaking, Phys.Lett.B (2022)

    This is work together with Mia Hughes of Imperial College London.  We first presented these ideas in 2020 for Rutgers' mathematics department.  A subsequent video presentation at the University of Edinburgh may be found here.  For a popular account, see the cover story written by Michael Brooks at New Scientist.

    In a nutshell:  

    Reframing certain well-known particle models in terms of normed division algebras leads to two new results for BSM physics.

    (1) We identify a sequence of division algebraic reflections that induces a cascade of breaking symmetries: Spin(10) ↦ Pati-Salam ↦ Left-Right symmetric ↦ Standard model + B-L (both pre- and post-Higgs-mechanism). These reflections derive from the octonions, then from the quaternions, then from the complex numbers.

    (2) We provide, also for the first time we believe, an explicit demonstration of left-right symmetric Higgs representations stemming from quaternionic triality. Upon the breaking of SU(2)_R, our Higgs reduces to the familiar standard model Higgs.

    Given that this is the first explicit realization (that I am aware of) of quaternionic triality in the Higgs sector, I have been calling this finding Hughes' Higgs.

    * Furey and Hughes, One generation of standard model Weyl representations as a single copy of RCHO, Phys.Lett.B (2022)

    In this model, the standard model's unbroken gauge symmetries come out as the Lie subalgebra invariant under the complex conjugate.

    * Furey, Three generations, two unbroken gauge symmetries, and one eight-dimensional algebra, Phys.Lett.B (2018)

    The addendum of this paper outlines a new project I am currently working on together with Beth Romano at King's College London.  The basic idea is to define a universal multiplication rule, known as a multi-action, which splits the Clifford algebra Cl(8,C) into Lie, Jordan, and spinor algebras.  This multi-action induces a Z_2 graded structure, reminiscent of a supersymmetry algebra, to a limited extent.  With this said, one would not anticipate the introduction of the usual superpartners in this framework.  We presented our ideas for the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies' theoretical physics seminar series.  

    * Furey, SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) (xU(1)) as a symmetry of division algebraic ladder operators, Eur. Phys. J. C (2018) 

    By building from the early work of [3], it is shown how the division algebras R, C, H, and O can combine to yield the basic structure of Georgi and Glashow’s SU(5) grand unified theory.  However, there is one significant difference.  That is, the extra structure provided by the division algebras may enable an escape from SU(5)’s problematic prediction of proton decay. 

    For a popular account of this work, and the work below, see Natalie Wolchover's article in Quanta Magazine.

    * Furey, Standard model physics from an algebra?, PhD thesis, 2016

    In chapter 3, it is shown that each of the Lorentz representations of the standard model (scalars, left- and right-handed Weyl spinors, Dirac spinors, Majorana spinors, four-vectors, and the field strength tensor) can be identified as special invariant subspaces of the complex quaternions.  This work extends beyond the early 1937 paper of A. Conway [8].  Specifically, the new finding is that each of the standard model's Lorentz representations generalize, in their own way, the notion of a left ideal.

    * Furey, Charge quantization from a number operator, Phys.Lett.B, 742 (2015) 195-199

    Gunaydin and Gursey’s early model is extended to show not only quarks and anti-quarks using the octonions.  Instead, we find a set of states behaving like the eight quarks and leptons of one full generation.  Here we show that unitary symmetries of octonionic ladder operators lead uniquely to the two unbroken gauge symmetries, su(3)_c and u(1)_em.

    We also find a straightforward way to understand the quantization of electric charge. In this model, electric charge is proportional to the number operator for the system. Hence, we see that electric charge is quantized because number operators can only take on integer values.

    It should be noted that [4] came quite close to this result in the late 1970s; differences between these two models are described in [2], p.39.

    * Furey, Generations: three prints, in colour, JHEP 10 (2014) 046

     Using only the complex octonions (an 8C dimensional algebra) we show how to build the SU(3)c representations corresponding to not one, but three generations of quarks and leptons.  The result is worth noting because natural three-generation models are few and far between.

    In each of the three papers above, particles and anti-particles are related simply by the complex conjugate, i to -i.

    * DeBenedictis, Furey, Wormhole throats in R^m gravity, Class. Quant. Grav., 2005 

    * http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8695-2904

    VIDEO SERIES

    background
    tempel.jpg

    BACKGROUND

    MOTIVATION FOR MY RESEARCH

    The standard model of particle physics is the result of decades of collaboration, which began roughly in the 1930s, and converged finally on its current state in 1979, [1]. It is a perfected set of rules that tells us how the known fundamental particles behave. In the decades since 1979, the standard model has seen little in the way of alterations, and yet has survived rigorous experimental testing, nearly completely unscathed.

    However, despite its long string of victories, the standard model is in some ways hollow, or incomplete. Roughly speaking, we know how to use the model to make predictions, but we do not know why it is the way it is.

    To be more explicit, we do not know why the standard model is based on the gauge group SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1)/Z_6, and not some other gauge group. Even given that gauge group, the standard model does not specify why it uses such a long, apparently arbitrary, list of particles to represent that group. The standard model does not explain why its quarks and leptons are organized into three generations. It does not explain why SU(2) weak isospin acts only on left-handed states. These questions, and others, have gone unanswered now for nearly 40 years.

    The main goal of my work is to try to answer questions like these.

    UNDERLYING MATHEMATICAL STRUCTURE

    Ultimately, what we are seeking out is an underlying mathematical structure which could explain the behaviour of fundamental particles.  But which mathematical structure should this be?

    One possibility is to consider a special set of number systems, which generalize the real numbers that we are already accustomed to using in everyday life. They are known as the normed division algebras over the reals. Curiously, it turns out that there exist only four of these algebras. They are the real numbers, R, the complex numbers, C, the quaternions, H, and the octonions, O. They have dimension 1, 2, 4, and 8, respectively.

    The real numbers are used nearly everywhere in physics; the complex numbers are central to quantum theory; the quaternions underlie SL(2,C), and hence are tightly entwined with special relativity. In fact, in chapter 3 of [2], it is shown how invariant subspaces of the complex quaternions can concisely describe each of the Lorentz representations of the standard model.

    But what is to be made of the octonions, the fourth and final division algebra? Currently, this algebra is not central to any widely accepted theory in physics. However, with R, C, and H undeniably etched into fundamental physics, it is hard not to wonder: is it really the case that O has been omitted in nature?


    This becomes a particularly unavoidable question, once one realizes that the number of quarks and leptons within a generation of standard model fermions adds up to eight. (eg. red, green, and blue up quarks, red, green and blue down quarks, electron, and electron-neutrino)  Eight, of course, is also the dimension of the octonionic algebra.


    One of the earliest breakthroughs along these lines belong to Gunaydin and Gursey, [3], who showed the SU(3)_c structure for quarks and anti-quarks within the octonions. Several authors since then have built directly from Gunaydin and Gursey's model, notably, Casalbuoni et al  [4] and Dixon [5]. Much of my own work over the last few years has also made direct use of [3].  Although [4] and [5] were not used in the construction of my model, I would highly recommend that readers explore these earlier texts.

    ONLY AN ALGEBRA ACTING ON ITSELF

    My work to date has aimed to describe standard model physics only in terms of division algebras acting on themselves.  That is, just one copy of R, one copy of C, one copy of H, and one copy of O.  In particular, this means that there is then no liberty to alter the original division algebraic structure by augmenting it to matrices or column vectors. This is a statement worth emphasizing: there are no matrices or column vectors in this formalism. We deal strictly with the division algebras themselves.

    Consequently, this means that particles, and the transformations that act on them, both come from the same algebra. Although this model is far from complete, it is anticipated that both bosons and fermions will likewise arise from the same algebra.

    REFERENCES

    [1] P. Ramond, Journeys beyond the standard model, Perseus Books, 1999.

    [2] C. Furey, Standard model physics from an algebra?, PhD thesis, 2015.

    [3] M. Gunaydin, F. Gursey, Quark structure and the octonions, J. Math. Phys., 1973.

    M. Gunaydin, F. Gursey, Quark statistics and octonions, PRD, 1974.

    [4] A. Barducci, F. Buccella, R. Casalbuoni, L. Lusanna, and E. Sorace, Quantized grassmann variables and unifed theories, Phys. Letters B, 1977.

    [5] G. Dixon, Division algebras: octonions, quaternions, complex numbers and the algebraic design of physics, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994.

    [6] C. Furey, Charge quantization from a number operator, Phys.Lett.B, 742 (2015) 195-199

    [7] C. Furey, Generations: three prints, in colour, JHEP 10 (2014) 046

    [8]  A. Conway, Quaternion treatment of relativistic wave equation, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A, Mathematical and physical sciences, 162, No 909 (1937).  

    public intro

    Division algebras as a unifying structure for elementary particle physics

    MOTIVATION FOR MY RESEARCH
    (FOR A GENERAL AUDIENCE)

    Note 1: More precisely, four algebras generalize the real numbers *in a particular way*. To see what we mean by *in a particular way*, please see Section 1.1 of https://arxiv.org/pdf/math/0105155.pdf


    Note 2: No dividing by zero, of course.

    bottom of page