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Archeology of QCD (and some of its evolution)

Colloquium

Theoretical Physics, general interest

Speaker:

Alvaro de Rujula

Institution:

IFT

Location&Place:

Blue Room

Abstract:

In a few years —right before and after the November Revolution of 1974— particle physics, with full wind in its sails, changed very significantly. Quarks, somewhat reluctantly invented during the 1963/64 Christmas holidays, turned out to be for real. QCD and the rest of the Standard Model evolved from being considered a tropical disease affecting an overwhelmed minority of field theorists to being spoused by practically ``everybody”. I shall revisit, from the very personal point of view of a witness, the main theoretical and observational aspects of QCD in its infancy. I shall comment a bit on the QCD progress made during the past half century, as well as the main challenges still remaining.