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On the unexpected fate of scientific ideas. An archeology of the Carroll group
by Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond
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Submission summary
| Ontological classification |
| Academic field: |
Physics |
| Specialties:
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| Approach: |
Theoretical |
Abstract
In 1965, I published a paper, exhibiting a hitherto unknown limit of the Lorentz group, which I christened “Carroll group” because of its seemingly paradoxical physical contents. Since I saw it as more curious than relevant, I published it in French in a journal somewhat afar from the mainstream of theoretical physics at that time. It was most gratifying to witness the quite unexpected favour this paper started to enjoy half a century later, so much that a so-called “Carrollian physics” is now developing, with applications in various domains of forefront theoretical physics, such as quantum gravitation, supersymmetry, string theory, etc. I offer this narrative as an example of the very diverse time scales with which scientific ideas may develop — or not.
