Physics Commons^™

Conformal Symmetry: Finding New Physics In Scale Invariance, Benjamin C. Lovelady

Research on Capitol Hill

Modern physics is the study of symmetry. Everything from electromagnetism to the famed Higgs mechanism stems from fundamental symmetries. These have fancy mathematical names and even fancier math behind them, but the basic idea is the same. These are mathematical generalizations of normal transformations such as rotating. These symmetries describe fields (electric, magnetic, etc.).

Most models of unification, i.e. string theory, use "Poincare symmetry." This symmetry includes both translations and rotations. This means physics only cares about relative position, angle, velocity, etc. If I were to wake up in a windowless room that had been moved a mile north and …