Yang Chen-Ning

Yang Chen-Ning (C. N. Yang) is a Chinese-American theoretical physicist whose work reshaped particle physics and statistical mechanics. He shared the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for parity nonconservation in weak interactions.

Parity (physics): Parity is the transformation that reverses spatial coordinates, mapping each point to its mirror image through the origin. Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee proposed testing whether weak interactions preserve this symmetry.
Yang–Mills theory: Yang–Mills theory is a non-Abelian gauge theory describing fields whose symmetry transformations can depend on position. Yang and Robert Mills introduced this framework in 1954.
Tsung-Dao Lee: Tsung-Dao Lee was a Chinese-American physicist who shared the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics with Yang. Lee and Yang jointly argued that parity conservation in weak interactions should be tested.
Parity violation: Parity violation occurs when a physical process changes under spatial reflection. The discovery overturned the assumption that weak interactions conserve parity.
Weak interaction: The weak interaction is a fundamental force responsible for processes such as beta decay and neutrino interactions. Parity violation was discovered in this fundamental force.
Yang–Baxter equation: The Yang–Baxter equation is a consistency relation governing the exchange of three interacting particles or operators. Yang derived it in work on one-dimensional quantum many-body scattering.
Robert Mills: Robert Mills was an American theoretical physicist who co-developed non-Abelian gauge theory with Yang. Their 1954 collaboration produced Yang–Mills theory.
Standard Model: The Standard Model is the quantum field theory describing known elementary particles and three fundamental interactions. Its description of strong and weak forces uses non-Abelian gauge theory.
Gauge theory: Gauge theory describes fields using local symmetries that permit multiple mathematical representations of the same physical state. Yang–Mills theory extended gauge theory beyond electromagnetism.
Lee–Yang theorem: The Lee–Yang theorem locates zeros of the partition function of certain ferromagnetic systems on the unit circle. Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee connected phase transitions to the analytic structure of partition functions.

Linked from 11 pages