Frank Wilczek thumb picture

Frank Wilczek

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2004

Nobel Lecture

Asymptotic Freedom: From Paradox to Paradigm

Frank Wilczek held his Nobel Lecture December 8, 2004, at Aula Magna, Stockholm University. He was presented by Professor Sune Svanberg, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics.

Summary: The idea that Quarks that are born free are confined and can't be pulled apart was once considered a paradox. The emerging theory for strong interactions, Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD) predicts the existence of gluons, which together with quarks can be seen indirectly as jets from hard scattering reactions between particles. Quantum Chromo Dynamics predicts that the forces between quarks are feeble for small separations but are powerful far away, which explains confinement. Many experiments have confirmed this property of the strong interaction.
See a Video of the Nobel Lecture
Presentation
50 sec. 

Nobel Lecture
35 min. 
In order to see the videos you need Adobe Flash Player or Windows Media Player
Copyright © Nobel Media AB 2004
Credits: Sveriges Television AB (production)

Lecture Slides
Pdf 2.30 MB  »

In order to read the text you need Acrobat Reader.

QCD Lava Lamp
Animation 518 kB »

The Lecture in pdf-format
Pdf 983 kB  »
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2004

From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 2004, Editor Tore Frängsmyr, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 2005

In order to read the text you need Acrobat Reader.