Alladi Ramakrishnan Hall

Do particle physics and superconductivity have anything to do with each other? Some glimpses into the beauty, unity and the power of physics.

Prof. N. D. Hari Dass

Retd. Senior Professor, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, INDIA.

In these days of growing compartmentalization of knowledge and learning, there is an urgent need to remind ourselves of the essential unity of physics. I shall bring this forth by discussing how one of the great discoveries of condensed matter physics, namely, superconductivity, has played an essential role in three of the greatest breakthroughs of particle physics viz. i) nature of pions that bind nuclei, ii) the Higgs phenomenon, and, iii) the problem of the permanent confinement of quarks. I shall keep the tecnicalities to a minimum in order to get across the conceptual underpinnings.