About Me

For all my life, I have been curious about nature and the laws that govern the Universe. I was always asking why the things are as we observe them, from where they came, and how interactions in nature take place in order to produce what we see and what we feel. Before going to the University, I read many books on particle physics and became very enthusiastic about it. For me, the idea of explaining the Universe by four interactions was fascinating. During the first years of my studies at University, I realized that describing physical phenomena with mathematics was something elegant and beautiful, so that I started fell more empathy with Theoretical Physics.

The reasons I am writing this blog are related to my interest and enthusiasm for Theoretical Physics in general, Theoretical Particle Physics in particular, Mathematics and natural curiosity. More specifically, I’m really motivated to get a solid understanding of Quantum Field Theory and its mathematical tools, in order to achieve a good understanding of interactions and observed phenomena. Soon I will start a PhD research program in a theoretical and phenomenological field, and I will have the possibility of doing something that really matches my interests. This Blog is a complement to that. Here I can review all the physics and mathematics I learned during my graduation at FCUL (Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa) and further study of those subjects.

I am currently working at LIP (Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experiemtal de Partículas) in collaboration with ATLAS/CERN project, in order to get a master’s degree. Ya, I know, I’m doing experimental physics, but I have to say that this was, and still being, a good experience. I learned a lot and I knew also a lot of important people in physics world. With my time spent at CERN I understood how physics is done and also how physical phenomena can be observed. If we want to be good theorists, we should not only understand the models and the mathematics behind those models, but also how can we manage to predict something testable. We really should know how measures are done and what are the constraints of the experiements. Nevertheless, in my opinion, if we don’t know mathematics (basic and advanced), we don’t speak the language of physics, and we can not do (theoretical) physics.

My experience in the last two years, taught me that physics is far from being completely understood, there will always be a lot of interesting phenomena to study and theories to be developed. Indeed, the increase of energy in accelerator experiments, will most probably produce more resonances, leading to the discovery of new particles. With the knowledge I expect to obtain while working (soon) in theory, I will get the needed mathematical and physical tools, to prepare for new challenges related with the most interesting themes of physics, such as the Grand Unified Theories (GUTs). This is my objective as a physicist, concentrate my research in GUTs, and, if possible, not fall inside String Theory. But this is an other discussion…

Finally, and concerning this blog, my idea is to share with all of you my knowledge, work and opinions. My idea is to cover both basic and advanced mathematics used in physics, classical physics, quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Since this site is at most for me to “have fun”, I will not follow a rigid sequence and it will depend on my mood .

You can find in the outline page my plan.

Enjoy, and if is your case, have fun http://apmorais.wordpress.com/outline/