Wolfhart Zimmermann
{{Short description|German theoretical physicist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Wolfhart Zimmermann
| image =
| image_size =
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|2|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|9|18|1928|2|17|df=y}}
| death_place = Hamburg, Germany
| resting_place =
| citizenship =
| field = Quantum field theory
| work_institutions = Max Planck Institute
New York University
University of Hamburg
| alma_mater =
| thesis_title = Eine Kohomologietheorie topologischer Räume
| thesis_year = 1950
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = {{no wrap|LSZ reduction formula}}
BPHZ Renormalization scheme
| influences =
| influenced =
| prizes = Max Planck Medal (1991)
| footnotes =
| signature =
}}
Wolfhart Zimmermann (17 February 1928 – 18 September 2016) was a German theoretical physicist, known for his contribution in quantum field theory. He is one of the developers of the LSZ reduction formula.
Biography
Zimmermann was born in Freiburg im Breisgau.
Zimmermann attained a doctorate in 1950 at Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg in topology.{{Cite journal |last=Sibold |first=Klaus |date=2019 |title=Wolfhart Zimmermann: Life and work |journal=Nuclear Physics B |language=en |volume=941 |pages=900–910 |doi=10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2018.01.022|doi-access=free |bibcode=2019NuPhB.941..900S }}
In 1952, he joined the group of Werner Heisenberg at the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen. There he became one of the pioneers of the mathematical quantum field theory. He developed the LSZ theory with Kurt Symanzik and Harry Lehmann. Their research group was referred as the Field Club ({{Langx|de|Feldverein}}) by Wolfgang Pauli.{{Cite journal |last=Mack |first=Gerhard |date=1984-05-01 |title=Kurt Symanzik |url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/37/5/102/403511/Kurt-Symanzik |journal=Physics Today |language=en |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=102–103 |doi=10.1063/1.2916220 |issn=0031-9228|doi-access=free |bibcode=1984PhT....37e.102M }}
From 1962 to 1974 he was a professor at the New York University. From 1974 to 1996 he was a director at the Max Planck Institute for physics in Munich, later becoming the "Director Emeritus".{{cite web|url=https://wwwold.mpp.mpg.de/pr/medienarchiv/03_print/pressemeldungen/pressemeldungen2016/160921_Nachruf_Zimmermann/index.html|title=Max-Planck-Institut für Physik - Gedenken an Professor Dr. Wolfhart Zimmermann|first=Max-Planck-Instituts für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut)|last=München|work=mpg.de|access-date=22 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202010050/https://wwwold.mpp.mpg.de/pr/medienarchiv/03_print/pressemeldungen/pressemeldungen2016/160921_Nachruf_Zimmermann/index.html|archive-date=2 February 2017|url-status=dead}}
Since 1977 he was an honorary professor ("Honorarprofessor") at TU Munich. He took a year-long sabbatical stay at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (1957/8 and 1960/1), at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University, at the University of Chicago and at IHES in Paris. In addition to his work on the LSZ formalism he is also known for the development of Bogolyubov - Parasiuk renormalization schema (also BPHZ Renormalization schema named after Klaus Hepp and Zimmermann).Zimmermann: Convergence of Bogoljubows Method of renormalization in momentum space, Communications in mathematical physics, Vol. 15, 1969, p. 208 Along with Kenneth G. Wilson he was one of the pioneers in applications of operator product expansion in quantum field theory.K. Wilson and W. Zimmermann: Operator product expansions and composite field operators in the general framework of quantum field theory , Commun. Math. Phys. 24 (1972) 87 With Reinhard Oehme of the Enrico Fermi Institute in Chicago (with whom he already collaborated in Göttingen in the 1950s), he worked on the reduction of coupling parameters with group renormalization methods{{Citation|author=Zimmermann|title= Reduction in the number of coupling parameters|journal=Communications in Mathematical Physics | volume = 97 |issue= 1–2| year = 1985 | pages = 211–225| doi=10.1007/bf01206187|bibcode= 1985CMaPh..97..211Z|s2cid= 123276494|url= https://projecteuclid.org/journals/communications-in-mathematical-physics/volume-97/issue-1-2/Reduction-in-the-number-of-coupling-parameters/cmp/1103941987.pdf}},
Oehme, Zimmermann: Relations Between Effective Couplings for Asymptotically Free Models, ibid. p. 586 and introduced superconvergence relations for the propagator (gauge field propagator) into Yang–Mills theory, to establish connections between the borders of high energy (e.g. asymptotic freedom) and low energy (confinement).{{Citation|author=Oehme, Zimmermann|title= Quark and Gluon Propagators in Quantum Chromodynamics, Gauge field propagator and the number of fermion fields|journal= Physical Review D | volume = 21 | year = 1980 |page= 471|doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.21.471}}
In 1991 he received the Max Planck medal.
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- Peter Breitenlohner (Ed.) "Quantum Field Theory- Proceedings on the Ringberg Workshop, Tegernsee 1998, On the Occasion of Wolfhart Zimmermann´s 70. Birthday", Lecture Notes in Physics 558, Springer, 1998.
- Zimmermann "Local operator products and renormalization in Quantum Field Theory", Brandeis Summer Institute in Theoretical Physics Lectures 1970, pp. 399–589
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110724103119/http://www.physics.thetangentbundle.net/wiki/Quantum_field_theory/BPHZ Quantum field theory/BPHZ - Physics wiki - TheTangentBundle]}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Wolfhart}}
Category:Theoretical physicists
Category:20th-century German physicists
Category:German theoretical physicists
Category:New York University faculty