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Published online 7 October 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1155
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Nobel Prize in Physics for symmetry breakdown
Japanese-born theorists rewarded for work on fundamental symmetries in particle physics.
A trio of Japanese-born physicists has been awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on understanding how the fundamental symmetries of nature are broken.
Makoto Kobayashi of Japan's High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Tsukuba and Toshihide Maskawa of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP) at Kyoto University were awarded a quarter of the prize each for discovering the origin of the 'broken symmetry' that contributed to a preponderance of matter over antimatter in the Universe.
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The weaker the force the more it displays chiral symmetry breaking, 1957 Yang and Lee through today. Gravitation is the weakest force, 10^(-25) of the Weak interaction, and should display the greatest chiral symmetry breaking. alpha-Quartz in enantiomorphic space groups P3(1)21 (right-handed) and P3(2)21 (left-handed) provides opposite chirality atomic mass distributions. Chiral emergent scale is a 0.304 nm diameter sphere. A parity Eötvös experiment is the relevant observation. Somebody should look.
"which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." from the Will of Alfred Nobel. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Is understanding how the fundamental symmetries of nature are broken will benefit most of mankind? I don't think 99.9% of mankind will benefit in the foreseeable future. But other branch of Physics effecting all mankind in this generation and generations for the next millennium GEOPHYSICS. The discoveries and improvements in the field of CLIMATE CHANGE can (with political will) benefit all mankind. For Nobel to Charles Keeling we are to late so maybe Jim Hansen maybe someone else from the field. But the cosmic microwave background radiation is much less important then the radiation balance of Earth.
The Swedish Academy has completely forgotten the work done by Nicola Cabibbo of Rome. His Cabibbo angle goes back to 1963 and the C in the CKM matrix, which is an extension of the Cabibbo angle theory, belongs to him. The others two letters are the initials of the Nobel prize winners. No comment. Tullio Chersi
I totally agree with Tullio Chersi's comment. Nicola Cabibbo's mixing angle theory is the foundation on which the work of Kobayashi and Maskawa stands. Cristiana Peroni
It seems to me that the Nobel Committee made twice the same mistake this year. Prof. Goldstone of MIT should, by all means, have shared the prize with Prof. Nambu: indeed, we all speak of Nambu-Goldstone, or just Goldstone Bosons when we discuss spontaneous symmetry breaking. Similarly, Prof. Cabibbo surely should have shared the prize with Profs. Kobayashi and Maskawa, as he deservedly shares the acronym CKM for the quark mixing matrix.
I completely agree with Tullio Chersi's comment: Nicola Cabibbo should have shared the Nobel prize with Kobayashi and Maskawa, because the Cabibbo angle was the base of CKM matrix.
As a physicist, I simply don't understand the rationale of excluding Nicola Cabibbo, who was the father of the quark mixing, and of Jona-Lasinio, who has signed all the fundamental works together with prof. Nambu. I understand that the winners can only be three: Cabibbo, Kobayashi and Maskawa and Nambu-Jona Lasinio would have been two absolutely onest Nobel prices for particle physics, who has given a lot to Science in the last (at least) 50 years
When I heard the names of this year's NP winners, I could simply not believe the news. In my mind CKM is not only a matter of alphabetical order, Cabibbo mixing came first, and was widely known in the physics community well before the work of Kobayashi and Maskawa. In an historical perspective, KM mixing can be seen as a generalization of C mixing, even if the result opened up a way of understanding the mystery of the missing antimatter.
I completely agree with Tullio Chersi's comment: Nicola Cabibbo should have shared the Nobel prize with Kobayashi and Maskawa, because the Cabibbo angle was the base of CKM matrix. It is really incredible that he didn't get the Nobel Prize!!!!