Editing Alexander Markovich Polyakov

{{short description|Russian theoretical physicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Alexander M. Polyakov
| image             = Polyakov 1.jpg
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1945|09|27|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| nationality       = 
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| field             = [[Theoretical Physics|Theoretical]] [[high energy physics]]
| work_institution  = [[Princeton University]]<br>[[Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics]]
| alma_mater        = [[Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Karen Ter-Martirosian]]
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[String theory]]<br>[['t Hooft–Polyakov monopole]]<br>[[BPST instanton]]<br>[[Polyakov action]]<br>[[Conformal bootstrap]]<br>[[Belavin–Polyakov–Zamolodchikov equations]]<br>[[Liouville field theory]]<br>[[AdS/CFT correspondence]]<br>[[Polyakov loop]]<br>[[Higgs mechanism]]<br>[[Higher-spin theory]]<br>[[Polyakov formula]]
| prizes            = {{no wrap|[[Max Planck Medal]] (2021)<br>[[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] (2013)<br>[[Lars Onsager Prize]] (2011)<br>[[Harvey Prize]] (2010)<br>[[Pomeranchuk Prize]] (2004)<br>[[Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture|Oskar Klein Medal]] (1996)<br>[[Lorentz Medal]] (1994)<br>[[Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics|Dannie Heineman Prize]] (1986)<br>[[Dirac Medal (ICTP)|Dirac Medal of the ICTP]] (1986)}}
| signature         = 
| footnotes         = 
}}

'''Alexander Markovich Polyakov''' ({{langx|ru|Алекса́ндр Ма́ркович Поляко́в}}; born 27 September 1945) is a Russian theoretical [[physicist]], formerly at the [[Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics|Landau Institute]] in Moscow and, since 1989, at [[Princeton University]], where he is the [[Joseph Henry]] Professor of Physics Emeritus.<ref name="c">{{cite journal|title=Princeton celebrates Polyakov's 60th|journal=CERN Courier|issue=Mar 1|pages=2|date=2006|url=http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/29554/2|access-date=2007-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709210059/http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/29554/2|archive-date=2011-07-09|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://phy.princeton.edu/people/alexander-polyakov|title=Alexander Polyakov &#124; Department of Physics}}</ref>

==Important discoveries==
Polyakov is known for a number of fundamental contributions to [[quantum field theory]], including work on what is now called the [['t Hooft–Polyakov monopole]] in [[Non-abelian gauge theory|non-Abelian gauge theory]], independent from [[Gerard 't Hooft]]. Polyakov and coauthors discovered the so-called  [[BPST instanton]] which, in turn, led to the discovery of the [[theta vacuum|vacuum angle]] in [[Quantum chromodynamics|QCD]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Belavin AA|author2=Polyakov AM|author3=Schwartz AS|author4=Tyupkin YS|title=Pseudoparticle solutions of the Yang-Mills equations|journal=Phys. Lett. B|volume=59|issue=1|pages=85–7|date=1975|doi=10.1016/0370-2693(75)90163-X|bibcode = 1975PhLB...59...85B }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Polyakov AM|title=Quark confinement and topology of gauge theories|journal=Nucl. Phys. B|volume=120|issue=3|pages=429–58|date=1977|doi=10.1016/0550-3213(77)90086-4|bibcode = 1977NuPhB.120..429P }}</ref> His [[path integral formulation]] of [[string theory]]<ref>{{cite journal|author=Polyakov AM|title=Quantum geometry of bosonic strings|journal=Phys. Lett. B|volume=103|issue=3|pages=207–10|date=1981|doi=10.1016/0370-2693(81)90743-7|bibcode = 1981PhLB..103..207P }}</ref> had profound and lasting impacts on the conceptual and mathematical understanding of the theory. His paper "Infinite conformal symmetry in two-dimensional quantum field theory"<ref name=a>{{cite journal|author=Belavin AA|author2=Polyakov AM|author3=Zamolodchikov AB|title=Infinite conformal symmetry in two-dimensional quantum field theory|journal=Nucl. Phys. B|volume=241|issue=2|pages=333–80|date=1984|doi=10.1016/0550-3213(84)90052-X|bibcode = 1984NuPhB.241..333B |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/152341}}</ref> written with [[Alexander Belavin]] and [[Alexander Zamolodchikov]] laid down the foundations of [[two-dimensional conformal field theory]] and has classic status.<ref name="c"/> Polyakov also played an important role in elucidating the conceptual framework behind [[renormalization]] independent of [[Kenneth G. Wilson]]'s Nobel Prize–winning work. He formulated pioneering ideas in gauge/string duality long before the breakthrough of [[AdS/CFT]] using [[D-branes]]. Other insightful conjectures that came years or even decades before active work by others include integrability of gauge and string theories and certain ideas about turbulence.

Very early in his career, in a 1965 student work, Polyakov suggested (with [[Alexander Arkadyevich Migdal|Alexander Migdal]]) a dynamical [[Higgs mechanism]], slightly after but independently<ref>{{Cite arXiv |eprint = hep-th/9211140|title = A View from the Island|last1 = Polyakov|first1 = A|year = 1992}}</ref> from the publications of [[Peter Higgs]] and others. The paper was delayed by the Editorial Office of JETP, and was published only in 1966.<ref>A. A. Migdal and A. M. Polyakov, [http://www.jetp.ac.ru/cgi-bin/dn/e_024_01_0091.pdf "Spontaneous Breakdown of Strong Interaction Symmetry and Absence of Massless Particles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203014220/http://www.jetp.ac.ru/cgi-bin/dn/e_024_01_0091.pdf |date=2013-12-03 }}, ''Soviet Physics JETP'', July 1966</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Paradise Lost – Alexander A. Migdal |url=https://alexandermigdal.com/paradise-lost/ |access-date=2024-11-08 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Honors and awards==
Alexander Polyakov was awarded the [[Dirac Medal (ICTP)|Dirac Medal of the ICTP]] and the [[Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics]] in 1986, the [[Lorentz Medal]] in 1994, the [[Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture|Oskar Klein Medal]] in 1996, the [[Harvey Prize]] in 2010, the [[Lars Onsager Prize]] (together with [[Alexander Belavin|A. Belavin]] and [[Alexander Zamolodchikov|A. Zamolodchikov]]) in 2011 and the [[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] in 2013. On 19 November 2020 the [[German Physical Society]] announced it would award Alexander Polyakov the 2021 [[Max Planck Medal]].

Polyakov was elected to the [[Soviet Academy of Sciences]] in 1984,<ref>[http://www.ras.ru/win/db/show_per.asp?P=.id-617.ln-ru Alexander M. Polyakov]. Site of RAS</ref> to the [[French Academy of Sciences]] in 1998<ref>[https://www.academie-sciences.fr/fr/Liste-des-membres-de-l-Academie-des-sciences-/-P/alexander-polyakov.html Alexander Polyakov]. Académie des sciences</ref> and the U.S. [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (NAS) in 2005.<ref>[http://www.nasonline.org/site/Dir/1028252604?pg=vprof&mbr=1006687&returl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasonline.org%2Fsite%2FDir%2F1028252604 Polyakov, Alexandre]. NAS Section: Physics</ref>
<ref>[http://news.ictp.it/index.php?p=76 Dirac Medalist Elected to NAS] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816024552/http://news.ictp.it/index.php?p=76 |date=2007-08-16 }}. ICTP News. 9/5/2005</ref>

== Political positions ==
In February-March 2022, he signed an open letter by Russian scientists condemning the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://t-invariant.org/2022/02/we-are-against-war/ |title=Открытое письмо российских учёных и научных журналистов против войны с Украиной |date=24 February 2022 |access-date=2 April 2022 |language=ru |trans-title=An open letter from Russian scientists and scientific journalist against the war in Ukraine}}</ref> and another open letter by Breakthrough Prize laureates with the same message.<ref>[https://breakthroughprize.org/News/69 An open letter from Breakthrough Prize laureates]</ref>

==Famous quotes==

<blockquote>
“''The garbage of the past often becomes the treasure of the present (and vice versa).''”<ref name=GFS>{{Cite book
| publisher = Harwood Academic Publishers
| isbn = 978-3-7186-0393-0
| last = Polyakov
| first = Alexander
| title = Gauge Fields and Strings
| location = London, UK
| year = 1987
}}</ref>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“''There are no tables for path integrals.''” (quoted in <ref name=Auerbach>{{Cite book
| publisher = Springer
| isbn = 978-0-387-94286-5
| last = Auerbach
| first = Assa
| title = Interacting Electrons and Quantum Magnetism
| location = New York
| year = 1994
}}</ref>)
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“''I wanted to learn about elementary particles by studying boiling water.''” <ref name=sasha>{{cite web
 |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/5456/1/hrst.mit.edu/hrs/renormalization/Polyakov/index.html
 |title=Interview with Alexander Polyakov
 |last=Polyakov
 |first=Alexander
 |date=2003
 |website=Dibner Institute for the history of science and technology
 |access-date=2019-10-16
 }}</ref> (paraphrased in <ref name=slava>{{cite web
 |url=https://courses.ipht.cnrs.fr/?q=fr/node/226
 |title=IPhT's theoretical physics courses: lorentzian methods in conformal field theory
 |last=Rychkov
 |first=Slava
 |date=2019
 |website=[[Institut de physique théorique - IPhT Saclay]]
 |access-date=2019-10-16
 }}</ref>)
</blockquote>

==See also==
{{cols}}
* [[Polyakov action]]
* [['t Hooft–Polyakov monopole]]
* [[BPST instanton|Belavin–Polyakov–Schwarz–Tyupkin instantons]]
* [[QCD vacuum]]
* [[Conformal bootstrap]]
* [[Liouville field theory|Liouville theory]]
* [[AdS/CFT correspondence]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://portal.ictp.it/prizes/Dirac/DiracMedal86.html Dirac Medal 1986 citation]
*[https://www.princeton.edu/physics/people/display_person.xml?netid=polyakov&display=faculty Departmental homepage at Princeton]

{{Breakthrough Prize laureates}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polyakov, Alexander Markovich}}
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