Tullio Regge: An Eclectic Genius

From Quantum Gravity to Computer Play

https://doi.org/10.1142/11643 | December 2019

Pages: 572

Edited by:
Leonardo Castellani (University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy),
Anna Ceresole (National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Turin, Italy),
Riccardo D'Auria (Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy), and
Pietro Fré (University of Turin, Italy)

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ISBN: 978-981-12-1343-4 (hardcover) USD 206.00 Add to cart

This volume of original articles, collected papers and commentaries by contemporary scholars illustrates the work of Tullio Regge, a giant in the panorama of theoretical physics in the second half of the 20th century, probably the most influential Italian physicist after Enrico Fermi. His brilliant contributions to quantum theory and to general relativity have marked significant turning points in the development of scientific knowledge: Regge poles, Regge behaviour, Regge calculus and his geometric approach to general relativity and its extensions, and they continue to have a profound impact on the work of the large theoretical community today. Moreover, his public engagement for the dissemination of scientific culture, his mastering of multimedia technology for outreach and play, and his support for important social causes such as the fight against pseudosciences and the rights of the disabled make him a charismatic character across time, space and disciplines.

Contents:

Preface
Black Hole Stability under Perturbations:
- Introduction to Regge and Wheeler "Stability of a Schwarzschild Singularity" (Kip S Thorne)
- Stability of a Schwarzschild Singularity (Tullio Regge and John A Wheeler)
Regge Poles:
- Regge Poles and Their Unexpected Offsprings (Gabriele Veneziano)
- The Long Road from Regge Poles to the LHC (Vittorio Del Duca and Lorenzo Magnea)
- Introduction to Complex Orbital Momenta (Tullio Regge)
- Bound States, Shadow States and Mandelstam Representation (Tullio Regge)
- S-Matrix and Feynman Amplitudes (Giampiero Passarino)
- Old Problems and New Hopes in S-Matrix Theory (Tullio Regge)
Regge Calculus and Discrete Gravity:
- The Ponzano–Regge Model (Annalisa Marzuoli)
- Semiclassical Limit of Racah Coefficients (Giorgio Ponzano and Tullio Regge)
- General Relativity Without Coordinates (Tullio Regge)
- Simplicial Gravity with Coordinates (Alessandro D'Adda)
- Tullio Regge's Legacy: Regge calculus and Discrete (Quantum) Gravity (John W Barrett, Daniele Oriti and Ruth M Williams)
- Discrete Structures in Gravity (Tullio Regge and Ruth M Williams)
Hamiltonian Formulation of General Relativity:
- Role of Surface Integrals in the Hamiltonian Formulation of General Relativity (Tullio Regge and Claudio Teitelboim)
- Regge–Teitelboim Analysis of the Symmetries of Electromagnetic and Gravitational Fields on Asymptotically Null Spacelike Surfaces (Claudio Bunster, Andrés Gomberoff and Alfredo Pérez)
Quantum Vortices:
- Quantum Vortices, Quantum Knots: Intertwining Physics, Topology and Algebra (Mario Rasetti)
- Unified Approach to Strings and Vortices with Soliton Solutions (Fernando Lund and Tullio Regge)
The Group Manifold Approach to (Super-) Gravity Theories:
- Geometric Supergravity (Riccardo D'Auria)
- Integrating Supergravity (Leonardo Castellani)
- Gauge Theory of Gravity and Supergravity on a Group Manifold (Yuval Ne'eman and Tullio Regge)
- Gravity and Supergravity as Gauge Theories on a Group Manifold (Yuval Ne'eman and Tullio Regge)
2+1 Quantum Gravity:
- 2+1 Dimensional Gravity (Jeanette E Nelson)
- Homotopy Groups and (2+1)-Dimensional Quantum De Sitter Gravity (Jeanette E Nelson, Tullio Regge and F Zertuche)
- (2+1) Quantum Gravity (Jeanette E Nelson and Tullio Regge)
Methods of Algebraic Geometry:
- Introduction to the Paper "Duality Group for Calabi–Yau Two-Moduli Space" (Anna Ceresole and Riccardo D'Auria)
- Duality Group for Calabi–Yau Two-Moduli Space (Anna Ceresole, Riccardo D'Auria and Tullio Regge)
Popularization of Science:
- Regge Multimedial Science Popularizer (Piero Bianucci)
- Regge's Cartoon Physics (Federico Tibone)
- Tullio Regge: His Imprint on Science Popularization in Italy (Giulio Peruzzi)
Reminiscences:
- Some Reminiscences about Tullio Regge (Sergio Ferrara)
- Tullio Regge from a Son's Perspective (Daniele Regge)
Full Bibliography of Scientific Works

Readership: Graduate students and researchers interested in theoretical and quantum physics.

Leonardo Castellani is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of East Piedmont. He obtained the Laurea at the University of Florence in 1978 and the PhD in Theoretical Physics at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook (USA) in 1981.

L Castellani has been active in the following areas of theoretical physics: canonical structure of gauge and gravity theories, group geometric approach to supergravity, Kaluza–Klein supergravity, string theory, noncommutative geometry and gravity. He is co-author, with R D'Auria and P Fré, of the book in 3 vol.s Supergravity and Superstrings, A Geometric Perspective (World Scientific, 1991).

Anna Ceresole is a Research Director in Theoretical Physics of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), working in its Torino division, at the Physics Department of the University. After graduating in 1984, she obtained her PhD from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook (USA) in 1989 and she was a postdoctoral fellow at CALTECH till 1992.

A Ceresole has worked in the field of theoretical high energy physics and mathematical physics, focussing on algebraic and geometric aspects of quantum field theory, conformal invariant theories, supergravity and superstrings and their applications to the unified quantum theories of elementary particles, black holes and cosmology. Her main achievements concern the construction of supergravity lagrangians in 4 and 5 dimensional spacetimes describing the interaction between supergravity and matter, the analysis of their electric-magnetic duality symmetries and the description by flow equations of black holes in supergravity.

Riccardo D'Auria is a Professor Emeritus in Theoretical Physics of the Polytechnic University in Torino, where he was a full professor till 2010. He obtained his Laurea at the University of Torino in 1963 under the supervision of prof. Tullio Regge, he became an INFN researcher since 1967 and continued as an assistant and then associate professor till 1985.

He is author of almost 200 publications on international journals, including about 35 Proceedings of international conferences. About 20 articles are coworked with T Regge. He is coauthor with L Castellani and P Fré of the three-volume book Supergravity and Superstrings: a geometric perspective, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1990) and, together with M Trigiante of the book From Special Relativity to Feynman Diagrams (Springer). His research activity concerns field theory, gravity, and models for the unification of all fundamental interactions, including Dual models, Gravity, Supersymmetry, String Theory and Supergravity. This latter topic has been his main field of research since the eighties. He has developed (together with P Fré and L Castellani) a new geometrical and group theoretical approach to the construction of any Supergravity theory, usually known as group manifold approach or rheonomy.

Pietro G Fré is a theoretical physicist, author of many publications in the fields of supergravity, superstring theory, cosmology and geometrical field theories. Some of his best known contributions to the field, mostly derived in the context of various collaborations, include the foundation of the Rheonomy approach to supergravity, the invention of Super Free Differential Algebras, the discovery of Hyperinstantons, pioneering work on the Solvable Lie Algebra approach to extended supergravities and on the Embedding Tensor formalism.

P G Fré graduated from the University of Torino in 1974 and where he is presently Full Professor of Theoretical Physics since 1996. Previously, for several years, he was Coordinator of the Elementary Particle Sector at SISSA (Trieste). Pietro Fré is author (or coauthor) of various scientific monographs: in particular Gravity, a Geometrical Course (two volumes, Springer 2012), The N=2 Wonderland (with Soriani, World Scientific 1994), Supergravity and Superstrings: a geometrical perspective (three volumes, Castellani, D'Auria and Fré, World Scientific 1991), Groups and Manifolds with A Fedotov (De Gruyter, 2017), Advances in Geometry and Lie Algebras from Supergravity (Springer, 2018). Prof. Fré is active also in the field of history of science and its popularization.