Martin Bauer
@martinmbauer.bsky.social
I'm a theoretical physicist at Durham University
The hierarchy problem (finetuning) of the Standard Model of particle physics is often presented as the question 'why the weak scale is so much smaller than the Planck scale'
But there is also a geometric interpretation that can be understood with little maths (but a lot of physics)
🧵1/11
But there is also a geometric interpretation that can be understood with little maths (but a lot of physics)
🧵1/11
October 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The hierarchy problem (finetuning) of the Standard Model of particle physics is often presented as the question 'why the weak scale is so much smaller than the Planck scale'
But there is also a geometric interpretation that can be understood with little maths (but a lot of physics)
🧵1/11
But there is also a geometric interpretation that can be understood with little maths (but a lot of physics)
🧵1/11
Short explanation of the physics Nobel Prize 2025
In classical mechanics you can know where a particle is and its momentum at the same time. In Quantum mechanics you can't. All information is in the wavefunction. Even if a particle is trapped, part of the wavefunction..
🧵1/7
In classical mechanics you can know where a particle is and its momentum at the same time. In Quantum mechanics you can't. All information is in the wavefunction. Even if a particle is trapped, part of the wavefunction..
🧵1/7
October 8, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Short explanation of the physics Nobel Prize 2025
In classical mechanics you can know where a particle is and its momentum at the same time. In Quantum mechanics you can't. All information is in the wavefunction. Even if a particle is trapped, part of the wavefunction..
🧵1/7
In classical mechanics you can know where a particle is and its momentum at the same time. In Quantum mechanics you can't. All information is in the wavefunction. Even if a particle is trapped, part of the wavefunction..
🧵1/7
This night 102 years ago, Hubble discovered that there're stars outside our galaxy by observing a Cepheid variable star 1 million light years away
Until barely a century ago, no human ever knew whether there was more than one galaxy in the Universe. Think about that!
Until barely a century ago, no human ever knew whether there was more than one galaxy in the Universe. Think about that!
October 5, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This night 102 years ago, Hubble discovered that there're stars outside our galaxy by observing a Cepheid variable star 1 million light years away
Until barely a century ago, no human ever knew whether there was more than one galaxy in the Universe. Think about that!
Until barely a century ago, no human ever knew whether there was more than one galaxy in the Universe. Think about that!
Today LHCb presented a new measurement of the decay of a B meson into a K* and a μ+ μ- pair
Previous results disagreed with the Standard Model prediction for the branching fraction and angular distribution
The new measurement has almost twice as much data and still disagrees!
🧵1/6
Previous results disagreed with the Standard Model prediction for the branching fraction and angular distribution
The new measurement has almost twice as much data and still disagrees!
🧵1/6
September 9, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Today LHCb presented a new measurement of the decay of a B meson into a K* and a μ+ μ- pair
Previous results disagreed with the Standard Model prediction for the branching fraction and angular distribution
The new measurement has almost twice as much data and still disagrees!
🧵1/6
Previous results disagreed with the Standard Model prediction for the branching fraction and angular distribution
The new measurement has almost twice as much data and still disagrees!
🧵1/6
In 3 (or more) dimensions, all fundamental particles are either fermions and bosons. But why?
This is a direct consequence of the properties of the configuration space for identical particles
🧵 1/14
This is a direct consequence of the properties of the configuration space for identical particles
🧵 1/14
August 1, 2025 at 9:32 PM
In 3 (or more) dimensions, all fundamental particles are either fermions and bosons. But why?
This is a direct consequence of the properties of the configuration space for identical particles
🧵 1/14
This is a direct consequence of the properties of the configuration space for identical particles
🧵 1/14
Here is it: The worlds best measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon
In great agreement with previous experimental results and in agreement with the Standard Model prediction using the LO HVP contribution from lattice input
In great agreement with previous experimental results and in agreement with the Standard Model prediction using the LO HVP contribution from lattice input
June 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Here is it: The worlds best measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon
In great agreement with previous experimental results and in agreement with the Standard Model prediction using the LO HVP contribution from lattice input
In great agreement with previous experimental results and in agreement with the Standard Model prediction using the LO HVP contribution from lattice input
Livestream of the final result of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon measurement at Fermilab
right now:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=huLv...
right now:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=huLv...
Final Muon g-2 Measurement at Fermilab
YouTube video by Fermilab
www.youtube.com
June 3, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Livestream of the final result of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon measurement at Fermilab
right now:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=huLv...
right now:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=huLv...
Before the charm quark was discovered in bound states, it was predicted via indirect effects. An early success story of the electroweak model and QFT!
Mary Gaillard and John Rosner, who both passed last week, contributed to calculating the charm quark mass
🧵1/11
Mary Gaillard and John Rosner, who both passed last week, contributed to calculating the charm quark mass
🧵1/11
May 31, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Before the charm quark was discovered in bound states, it was predicted via indirect effects. An early success story of the electroweak model and QFT!
Mary Gaillard and John Rosner, who both passed last week, contributed to calculating the charm quark mass
🧵1/11
Mary Gaillard and John Rosner, who both passed last week, contributed to calculating the charm quark mass
🧵1/11
Even if you don't care one bit about scientific research, it's important to recognise the value of publicly funding people working on very hard problems and training bright young minds on how to solve them.
May 25, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Even if you don't care one bit about scientific research, it's important to recognise the value of publicly funding people working on very hard problems and training bright young minds on how to solve them.
Excellent news: Germany invests €200M in fundamental physics, funding clusters in Mainz, Siegen, Bonn, Dortmund, Munich & Hamburg focused on particle physics, astrophysics & cosmology
The selection of *all* fundamental physics finalists marks a major boost in support!
www.dfg.de/de/service/p...
The selection of *all* fundamental physics finalists marks a major boost in support!
www.dfg.de/de/service/p...
Entscheidungen in zweiter Wettbewerbsrunde der Exzellenzstrategie: Exzellenzkommission wählt 70 Exzellenzcluster aus
www.dfg.de
May 23, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Excellent news: Germany invests €200M in fundamental physics, funding clusters in Mainz, Siegen, Bonn, Dortmund, Munich & Hamburg focused on particle physics, astrophysics & cosmology
The selection of *all* fundamental physics finalists marks a major boost in support!
www.dfg.de/de/service/p...
The selection of *all* fundamental physics finalists marks a major boost in support!
www.dfg.de/de/service/p...
Are neutrinos their own anti-particles?
They are the only fundamental fermions that could have this unique property. But they're so elusive, how could we figure that out?
A brilliant experiment could answer this question without detecting a single neutrino
🧵1/11
They are the only fundamental fermions that could have this unique property. But they're so elusive, how could we figure that out?
A brilliant experiment could answer this question without detecting a single neutrino
🧵1/11
May 22, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Are neutrinos their own anti-particles?
They are the only fundamental fermions that could have this unique property. But they're so elusive, how could we figure that out?
A brilliant experiment could answer this question without detecting a single neutrino
🧵1/11
They are the only fundamental fermions that could have this unique property. But they're so elusive, how could we figure that out?
A brilliant experiment could answer this question without detecting a single neutrino
🧵1/11
Does quantum mechanics really need to be complex?
Why can't we just use real wavefunctions?
🧵1/15 *some math, non-relativistic QM
Why can't we just use real wavefunctions?
🧵1/15 *some math, non-relativistic QM
May 4, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Does quantum mechanics really need to be complex?
Why can't we just use real wavefunctions?
🧵1/15 *some math, non-relativistic QM
Why can't we just use real wavefunctions?
🧵1/15 *some math, non-relativistic QM
The proton (uud) is lighter than the neutron (udd) because the up quark is lighter than the down quark. Then why is the delta resoncance Δ++ (uuu) heavier than both?
This can be fully understood via a symmetry argument
1/12
This can be fully understood via a symmetry argument
1/12
April 29, 2025 at 6:52 PM
The proton (uud) is lighter than the neutron (udd) because the up quark is lighter than the down quark. Then why is the delta resoncance Δ++ (uuu) heavier than both?
This can be fully understood via a symmetry argument
1/12
This can be fully understood via a symmetry argument
1/12
Renormalisation is a central concept in modern physics. It describes how the dynamics of a system change at different scales. A great way to understand and visualise renormalisation is the Ising model
(some math, but one can follow without it )
1/13
(some math, but one can follow without it )
1/13
April 21, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Renormalisation is a central concept in modern physics. It describes how the dynamics of a system change at different scales. A great way to understand and visualise renormalisation is the Ising model
(some math, but one can follow without it )
1/13
(some math, but one can follow without it )
1/13
A search for additional Higgs bosons has found evidence for Toponium, a bound state from top quark-antiquark pairs that has the mass of two gold atoms, decays in 5x 10^-25 s and 1% the size of a proton. This wasn’t expected to be observable at the LHC
cerncourier.com/a/cms-observ...
cerncourier.com/a/cms-observ...
CMS observes top–antitop excess – CERN Courier
The signal could be caused by a quasi-bound top–antitop meson commonly called "toponium".
cerncourier.com
April 5, 2025 at 7:44 PM
A search for additional Higgs bosons has found evidence for Toponium, a bound state from top quark-antiquark pairs that has the mass of two gold atoms, decays in 5x 10^-25 s and 1% the size of a proton. This wasn’t expected to be observable at the LHC
cerncourier.com/a/cms-observ...
cerncourier.com/a/cms-observ...
Physicists in Innsbruck have shown for the first time that it is possible to create quantum superpositions from thermally excited states (mixed states instead of pure states)
phys.org/news/2025-04...
phys.org/news/2025-04...
Hot Schrödinger cat states
A thermal initial state with low quantum purity is put into a superposition of displacements, while retaining its entropy.
www.science.org
April 5, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Physicists in Innsbruck have shown for the first time that it is possible to create quantum superpositions from thermally excited states (mixed states instead of pure states)
phys.org/news/2025-04...
phys.org/news/2025-04...
All supernovas ever observed, tens of thousands of dying stars
Once the Rubin Observatory is completed it will be able to see several millions of supernovas, dwarfing what we've seen so far
This is from a brilliant website by Isaac Shivvers.
ishivvers.github.io/maps/sne.html
Once the Rubin Observatory is completed it will be able to see several millions of supernovas, dwarfing what we've seen so far
This is from a brilliant website by Isaac Shivvers.
ishivvers.github.io/maps/sne.html
March 30, 2025 at 8:47 PM
All supernovas ever observed, tens of thousands of dying stars
Once the Rubin Observatory is completed it will be able to see several millions of supernovas, dwarfing what we've seen so far
This is from a brilliant website by Isaac Shivvers.
ishivvers.github.io/maps/sne.html
Once the Rubin Observatory is completed it will be able to see several millions of supernovas, dwarfing what we've seen so far
This is from a brilliant website by Isaac Shivvers.
ishivvers.github.io/maps/sne.html
Reposted by Martin Bauer
Big fan of this description of science from @martinmbauer.bsky.social
I like that it accurately captures the role of so-called "giants", as people who see the structure of large amounts of previous work of the innumerable vital scientists who usually don't make it into the history books
I like that it accurately captures the role of so-called "giants", as people who see the structure of large amounts of previous work of the innumerable vital scientists who usually don't make it into the history books
March 18, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Big fan of this description of science from @martinmbauer.bsky.social
I like that it accurately captures the role of so-called "giants", as people who see the structure of large amounts of previous work of the innumerable vital scientists who usually don't make it into the history books
I like that it accurately captures the role of so-called "giants", as people who see the structure of large amounts of previous work of the innumerable vital scientists who usually don't make it into the history books
Do you want to see what it'd look like to fly through the
DESI map of the Universe?
Our Universe is absolutely huge. Each dot here is a galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQkF...
DESI map of the Universe?
Our Universe is absolutely huge. Each dot here is a galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQkF...
DESI Galaxy Flight with captions
YouTube video by Fiske Planetarium
www.youtube.com
March 21, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Do you want to see what it'd look like to fly through the
DESI map of the Universe?
Our Universe is absolutely huge. Each dot here is a galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQkF...
DESI map of the Universe?
Our Universe is absolutely huge. Each dot here is a galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQkF...
Reposted by Martin Bauer
March 3, 2025 at 8:00 AM
What happens if a planet gets too close to a white dwarf?
Data from NASAs X-ray telescope Chandra suggest a white dwarf only 650ly from earth is slowly ripping a planet apart via tidal forces. This could explain variations in the X-ray spectrum observed since the 80s
chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/h...
Data from NASAs X-ray telescope Chandra suggest a white dwarf only 650ly from earth is slowly ripping a planet apart via tidal forces. This could explain variations in the X-ray spectrum observed since the 80s
chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/h...
March 4, 2025 at 8:58 PM
What happens if a planet gets too close to a white dwarf?
Data from NASAs X-ray telescope Chandra suggest a white dwarf only 650ly from earth is slowly ripping a planet apart via tidal forces. This could explain variations in the X-ray spectrum observed since the 80s
chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/h...
Data from NASAs X-ray telescope Chandra suggest a white dwarf only 650ly from earth is slowly ripping a planet apart via tidal forces. This could explain variations in the X-ray spectrum observed since the 80s
chandra.si.edu/photo/2025/h...
The most energetic neutrino ever observed just smashed into the Mediterranean and left a signal that was picked up by the K3Mnet neutrino telescope 2400m under the sea
At the moment we don't really know where this neutrino came from, nor should they really be there. A short 🧵1/10
At the moment we don't really know where this neutrino came from, nor should they really be there. A short 🧵1/10
February 18, 2025 at 11:57 AM
The most energetic neutrino ever observed just smashed into the Mediterranean and left a signal that was picked up by the K3Mnet neutrino telescope 2400m under the sea
At the moment we don't really know where this neutrino came from, nor should they really be there. A short 🧵1/10
At the moment we don't really know where this neutrino came from, nor should they really be there. A short 🧵1/10
posted without comment
February 10, 2025 at 10:48 AM
posted without comment
Reposted by Martin Bauer
Ep3 of the "Case for a new collider" series is out!
Why is mapping the Higgs potential at a new collider so important?
Such a mapping may allow us to understand how the universe may end and why we are even here to ask any questions at all.
🧪⚛️
Link: youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Why is mapping the Higgs potential at a new collider so important?
Such a mapping may allow us to understand how the universe may end and why we are even here to ask any questions at all.
🧪⚛️
Link: youtube.com/playlist?lis...
February 3, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Ep3 of the "Case for a new collider" series is out!
Why is mapping the Higgs potential at a new collider so important?
Such a mapping may allow us to understand how the universe may end and why we are even here to ask any questions at all.
🧪⚛️
Link: youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Why is mapping the Higgs potential at a new collider so important?
Such a mapping may allow us to understand how the universe may end and why we are even here to ask any questions at all.
🧪⚛️
Link: youtube.com/playlist?lis...