Yefim Samoilovich Fradkin

Jefim Samoilowitsch Fradkin , often cited as ES Fradkin, ( Russian Ефим Самойлович Фрадкин ; born November 30, 1924 in Shchedrin, Belarusian SSR ; †  May 25, 1999 in Moscow ) was a Russian theoretical physicist.

Life

Fradkin studied for a year at the University of Minsk in 1940/1 (he attended lectures from Israel Gelfand, among others ) and worked as a school teacher before he was drafted into military service in the Second World War (1942) and among others. a. fought at Stalingrad as a cadet of the artillery, where he was badly wounded. He was in the army until 1947. His (Jewish) family was killed in the war. In 1948 he graduated from the University of Lemberg (Lwow) and then went to Moscow, first at the Physics Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and then at the Lebedev Institute with Igor Tamm and Vitali Ginsburg , where he spent the rest of his scientific career. Since 1972 he was head of department there. In 1996/7 he was visiting professor in the theory department at CERN .

In 1953 he received the Stalin Prize, First Class, and in 1980 the Tamm Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences (as the first prize winner), of which he had been a full member since 1993 (and since 1970 a corresponding member of the Academy's nuclear physics department). In 1988 he received the Dirac Medal (ICTP) with David Gross . In 1996 he was the first recipient of the Sakharov Medal. He was an external member of the Accademia Pontaniana in Naples .

He should not be confused with the theoretical physicist Eduardo Fradkin.

plant

Fradkin initially dealt with quantum field theory (QFT). In the 1950s he developed functional methods ( path integrals over quantum fields) of QFT including a formal solution of the Schwinger-Dyson equations and, independently of Julian Schwinger, found their Euclidean formulation. He also applied the formalism in statistical mechanics and, independently of Lew Landau and Isaak Jakowlewitsch Pomeranschuk, recognized the divergence of the coupling constant (the “naked” charge) in quantum electrodynamics .

After him and Batalin and Vilkosisky, the BFV method of quantization of systems with constraints is named, which he developed from 1973 (applicable e.g. to gauge theories and in string theory). In addition, he dealt with a wide range of fields in theoretical physics, from plasma physics, spin model theories on the grid to GUTs , where he a. dealt with exceptional Lie groups as calibration groups and suggested the existence of asymptotic freedom as a criterion for GUTs. He was also a pioneer in conformal field theory (1974) and gauge theories (the Ward-Takahashi identities are sometimes also named after him and Slavnov) and developed the first theory of extended supergravity (extended gauged supergravity).

Fonts

• with Mark Paltchik "Conformal quantum field theory in D Dimensions", Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1996
• with D. Gitman, Sh. Shvartsman "Quantum Electrodynamics with unstable vacuum", Springer 1991
• Selected works in theoretical physics, Moscow, Nauka 2007 (Russian)

literature

• A. Semikhatov (Ed.): Quantization, gauge theory and strings. Moscow, Russia, June 5-10, 2000. Proceedings of the international conference dedicated to the memory of Efim Fradkin. 2 volumes. Scientific World, Moscow 2001, ISBN 5-89176-125-4 .
• Igor A. Batalin, C. Isham, GA Vilkovisky (Eds.): Quantum field theory and quantum statistics. Essays in honor of the 60th Birthday of ES Fradkin. 2 volumes. Bristol, Hilger 1987, ISBN 0-85274-525-7 .

Web links

• Obituaries for Fradkin et al. a. from the CERN Courier
• Appreciation on the occasion of the Dirac medal
• Literature by and about Jefim Samoilowitsch Fradkin in the catalog of the German National Library

Remarks

1. ↑ Because of the English transliteration of the first name Efim
2. ↑ Sometimes February 24 is also given