Theater Physics

Theater physics -- a novel cross-disciplinary semi-lab, connecting natural sciences, sociology, and arts. One important question occupying the minds of some theoretical physicists and philosophers is the reality of physical theories. A parallel question in the sociological dramaturgy is whether the life of human society is a theater or the theater is merely a metaphor. We will be exploring the analogy (and its limitations) between theatrical performances and physical theory. Physicists stage experiments, both in their labs and in their minds, and derive theories of Nature, based on the results. Sometimes the theory drives itself to produce new theory which is then confronted with experiments, both real and imaginary. Many physical theories are based on the concepts of elementary particles (or, more generally, elementary objects), whose basic rules of evolution are simple, but the collective behavior is complex. When the background conditions (such as temperature or pressure) change, what was an elementary object may no longer exist, its role taken by a collective excitation, a quasi-particle. To some external agents the physical system responds more favorably than to others. For example, a superconductor pushes out the external magnetic field, unless it exceeds some critical value, which destroys the superconductivity. Dramaturgy experiments on stage, allowing observations of human nature. The characters represented by actors may be compared to elementary particles, or to their collectives, often subject to the extreme external conditions, forcing a phase transition, or some sort of compensating mechanism. In this semilab we will be watching some plays and will attempt to interpret them from the point of view of a physicist. An attempt at the reverse process will also be made, time permitting.