Vitaly Ginzburg Research Articles

Lev Petrovich Pitaevskii

Lev Petrovich Pitaevskii

Editorial

Editorial

Unexpected properties of interaction of high-energy protons**This review is an extended version of a talk at the Scientific Session of the Physical Sciences Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, “On the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vitaly Ginzburg,” held on October 5, 20016 [see Physics-Uspekhi 60 (4) 413 (2017)

Experimental data on proton–proton interactions in high-energy collisions show that the elastic-to-inelastic scattering ratio varies in an unexpected way with the collision energy: the decrease at comparatively low energies is followed by an increase by a factor of over 1.5 (!) in the energy range from 11–60 GeV at the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR) to 7–13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Intuitive expectations are that, classically, proton break-up processes continue increasing in number compared to proton survivals. It can be assumed that this surprising effect is due to either the asymptotic freedom property or the collision time being extremely short at such high energies. The unquestionable unitarity principle is combined with the available elastic scattering data to gain new insight into the spatial shape of the interaction region of colliding protons. We discuss how this region evolves at energies currently used and make some predictions on its behavior at still higher energies under different assumptions concerning the relative roles of elastic scattering and inelastic processes. The shape can transform rather drastically if elastic processes keep increasing in proportion. There is an unexpected corollary to this unexpected property. The possible origins of the effect and its relation to strong interaction dynamics are discussed.

Lev Petrovich Gor’kov

Lev Petrovich Gor’kov

Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg. 4 October 1916 — 8 November 2009

Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg played a leading role in many different aspects of theoretical physics during the Soviet era and after the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991. His research contributions were of the highest order, spanning a vast range of topics in theoretical physics and culminating in the award of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov and Anthony Leggett, for pioneering studies of superconductivity and superfluidity.

My father and my family

In what proved to be his last paper, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg gives some autobiographical information about his family tree, relatives, ancestors, and descendents and where the name Ginzburg comes from. A major part of V L Ginzburg's memoir is about his father — making up for what he considered to be a 'somewhat neglected' filial duty.

In memory of academician Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg (October 4, 1916–November 8, 2009)

In memory of academician Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg (October 4, 1916–November 8, 2009)

Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg

Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg

Pamyati Vitaliya Lazarevicha Ginzburga

Pamyati Vitaliya Lazarevicha Ginzburga

Pamyati Vitaliya Lazarevicha Ginzburga

Pamyati Vitaliya Lazarevicha Ginzburga

Obituary of Vitaly Ginzburg

Obituary of Vitaly Ginzburg

Pamyati Vitaliya Lazarevicha Ginzburga

Pamyati Vitaliya Lazarevicha Ginzburga

Vitaly Ginzburg and high temperature superconductivity: Personal reminiscences

This article is an attempt to give Western readers, as well as young researchers in Russia, a glance at the atmosphere in one of the leading physics institutions in the USSR from 1977–1988, through the eye of a graduate student and later a posdoc in the theory group led by Vitaly Ginzburg, arguably the most enthusiatic proponent of high-temperature superconductivity before the discovery of Bednorz and Muller. This is a very personal narration, wherein the events of my own life and career are inevitably intertwined with scientific events and with my reminiscences of great Russian physicists whom I had the pleasure to meet with while working in the “High-Temperature Superconductivity Section” at the Lebedev Institute within the aforementioned 12 years.

The quantum solid that defies explanation

If a branch of physics were to be judged by the number of Nobel laureates it has produced, then superfluidity would surely rank among the most successful. The field has borne nearly 20 laureates, from the award of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Physics to Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who discovered superconductivity, to that of the 2003 prize to Alexei Abrikosov, Vitaly Ginzburg and Tony Leggett for their contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids. The reason why is simple: these counterintuitive phenomena, whereby below a certain temperature matter flows without resistance, are rare examples of quantum-mechanical behaviour seen at the macroscopic scale.

To Academician Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg on His 90th Birthday

To Academician Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg on His 90th Birthday

Vitaly L. Ginzburg—A Bibliometric Study

In this study the impact of the works of Vitaly Ginzburg has been analyzed by bibliometric methods. The time-dependent number of mentions of his name, the overall citation impact and the citation numbers of single articles and books have been investigated. The impact time curves of his most frequently cited articles and books are presented and discussed. The scientific contributions of the most influential Ginzburg works are analyzed, in particular their impact on recent research.

After a Lifetime in Russian Science, Concern for the Future

VITALY GINZBURG PROFILEMOSCOW-- In his 90th year, Vitaly Ginzburg sees promise in Russian science but says, I don't like very much what is happening now in our country. ([Read more][1].) [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/314/5806/1677

About Physics, Myself, and Ginzburgs

If you are also an admirer of Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, you will recognize the present title as a reference to his most recent book, “About Science, Myself, and Others” [1]. Hopefully, after reading this article, you will also recognize certain similarity in the style of writing. This is deliberate and meant to be a tribute—an acknowledgement that his tenets have been noticed, understood, and appreciated. It is also meant as a reassurance that his influence will continue to live long. The most striking aspect of that book, to me, is its openness—talking so directly and candidly about one’s private thoughts and feelings. I could see no deliberate attempts to impress the reader. If you have also read “You are surely joking, Mr. Feynman,” you couldn’t but be stricken by the contrast. Don’t let me be misunderstood—Feynman is another of my personal heroes all the same; genius may come in all kinds of personalities. And Feynman is certainly not an exception at all. Most autobiographies of great men, scientists or otherwise, that I have had a chance to read [Despite our names, Natasha and I are nor Russians—we do not even speak Russion, although both of us can read it.] left me in wonder why the author felt such strong need to prove that he was really smart—as if anyone doubted. Now, while not everyone can afford what befits Vitaly, his example is enticing. (Here I will not use Vitaly Lazarevich, which would be more proper but could sound awkward to nonRussian readers.) He makes one wish to be a more sincere person—as well as a better physicist. So, here is my offering, in his style—as candid as I can be. And the topic will be the great influence Vitaly had and has in my life as a physicist.

Some Thoughts About Two Dimensionality and Cuprate Superconductivity

In 1964, the year in which the present author obtained his doctorate, the highest known transition temperature Tc to the superconducting state was around 20 K. In that year, Professor Vitaly Ginzburg made a striking prediction; building on the work of Little [1], who had proposed a purely electronic mechanism to raise Tc, he predicted [2] that transition temperatures of the order of room temperature would indeed some day be achieved, and moreover that this was most likely to happen in a strongly layered (quasi-two-dimensional) system (rather than in the one-dimensional systems that Little had considered). As is well known, both these predictions were verified 22 years later, when transition temperatures over 90 K (subsequently raised to over 160 K) were realized in a class of cuprate materials whose most striking structural feature is indeed their metallic CuO2 planes separated by much less conducting materials. I would like, therefore, to devote this brief essay to the question: What is the role, in the genesis of high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates, of the quasi-two-dimensionality of the CuO2 planes? In particular, I shall be interested in the question (which has, of course, already attracted much attention in the literature): why, in the various homologous cuprate series (T1, Hg, Bi, etc.) does Tc show a characteristic and reproducible dependence (see below) on the number n of CuO2 planes per multilayer? Let me start with a couple of remarks about the raw data. First, it seems to be a rather general observation, not confined to the cuprates, that compared to other materials in their general class, strongly layered materials have rather high transition tempera-

The Influence of Vitaly Ginzburg on a Young Scientist

In some sense the BCS theory was so successful in the 1960’s, that people thought it would be the basis of understanding the experimental work on superconducting alloys and compounds. Looking back, there was much controversy at the time and there were some persuasive arguments that there was a limit to the transition temperature of alloy systems. However, there were some thoughtful people, including Vitaly Ginzburg, who championed the possibility of higher Tc’s.