Universe Colloquium: Effective Theories: from Black Holes to Nucleons

by Sean Fleming (University of Arizona, USA)

Wednesday 18 Jul 2012, 16:30 → 18:00 Europe/Berlin

seminar room (basement) (Universe Cluster, Garching)

Very broadly, effective theories in physics are theories which describe a limited set of physical phenomena without explaining the cause of the phenomena. Examples of effective theories would be Newtonian gravity or the multi-pole expansion in electrostatics. In the context of quantum field theory effective theories are known as effective field theories (EFTs), and are often deduced from the symmetries of the system. This talk will be a selective review on effective theories and EFTs through examples. A particular focus will be on the approach inherent to and the tools used in EFTs. It will be discussed how they have been used to reinvent effective theories in other areas of physics.