Chris Quigg · Physicist

CHRIS QUIGG, Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, is an American theoretical physicist, author, and lecturer. Here you will find information about Gauge Theories of the Strong, Weak, and Electromagnetic Interactions, with supporting material, and links to presentations for general audiences.

My work has ranged over many topics in particle physics, from electroweak symmetry breaking and supercollider physics to heavy quarks and the strong interaction among them to ultrahigh-energy neutrino interactions. The essential interplay between theory and experiment is a guiding theme. Because we cannot hope to advance without new instruments, I have devoted much energy to helping to define the future of particle physics—and the new accelerators that will take us there. Much of my current effort is linked with the experimental program of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, with special attention to the problem of electroweak symmetry breaking. I maintain an active interest in quarkonium spectroscopy and the new mesons associated with quarkonium.

An extended interview conducted July 15, 2020, for the Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, can be found here.

Slides from “Perspectives and Questions: Meditations on the Future of Particle Physics,” my November 2019 Yale University Nuclear/Particle/Astrophysics Seminar, are here. My essay, “Dream Machines,” features 40+1 open questions for particle physics.

I spoke about the past, present, and future of particle physics for the Bookends feature of Physics Today Online.

I joined in celebrating the life and career of Leon Lederman at the American Physical Society April 2019 Meeting in Denver. Slides from my talk, “In Leon’s company, it seemed that anything might be possible,” are at . A short essay based on the talk is available at arXiv:2001.01879.

“Colloquium: A Century of Noether’s Theorem” is based on a talk I first gave at Fermilab in August 2018. For a recent version of the slides, see this link.

I surveyed “Fermilab’s Greatest Hits: Scientific Highlights of the First Fifty Years” at the 2017 Meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Particles and Fields; slides at .