How to Compare Electrons and Electrons in Space

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For the electron, you were just taking one direction of rotation, and that is called U1. For the quarks, you have three different axes and the rotations you do are called SU3. How can you describe the value of a vector at one point in space compared to the value at another point? You need to carry it, and you need a field to tell you how to carry it. These fields are called connection fields for obvious reasons,. They help you connect one point to another, they are also called gauge fields.

Physics is in crisis, what else is new? That's what we hear in certain corners, anyway, usually pointed at "fundamental" physics of particles and fields. (Condensed matter and biophysics etc. are just fine.) In this solo podcast I ruminate on the unusual situation fundamental physics finds itself in, where we have a theoretical understanding that fits almost all the data, but which nobody believes to be the final answer. I talk about how we got here, and argue that it's not really a "crisis" in any real sense. But there are ways I think the academic community could handle the problem better, especially by making more space for respectable but minority approaches to deep puzzles.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/31/245-solo-the-crisis-in-physics/

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