Sociology of Physics: comment and indices

marcus · May 15, 2012

14 May 3925
15 May 4201
16 May ...

At noon Pacific on 15 May the top five stringy books (e-elegant, e-grand, grand, hidden, e-hidden) ranked 2727, 3107, 4501, 5047, 5621, for an average of 4201.

Correction to previous post: Greene's multiverse book is called Hidden Reality, not (as I mistakenly said) Hidden Universe.

marcus · May 16, 2012

Update on jobs:
In the Usa+Canada HEP theory 2012 job market, as of 16 May, first-time faculty position offers have been made to 10 people. The following links give a rough indication of the research interests on the part those who have received offers:
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+ea+Kaplan,+Jared
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+a+Slatyer,+T (DM cosmology)
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+a+Carpenter,+L (phenomenology)
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+a+Reece,+M (phenomenology)
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+a+Lisanti,+M (LHC phenom+DM cosmo)
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+ea+Fan,+JiJi (LHC phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+a+Poland,+D
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+ea+Martin,+Adam (LHC phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+ea+Smith,+Kendrick (cosmology)
http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+ea+Johnson,+Matthew+C (cosmology)

Pop-string salesrank average as of noon Pacific 16th May
e-grand, grand, e-hidden, e-elegant, hidden
(3645+4715+5413+5430+6464)/5 = 5133
14 May 3925
15 May 4201
16 May 5133
May midmonth average: (3925+4201+5133)/3 = 4420

Code:

Midmonth averages of string topfive salesranks
(recorded at Pacific noon on several days around the 15th of each month)
...
July 2009           6485
November 2009         NA
March 2010          7521
July 2010           8461
November 2010       2220
March 2011           349
July 2011           1257
November 2011       1243
March 2012          3235 
[May 2012           4420]
July 2012           ...

Links checked periodically:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (48*366/137=128)
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
Schools and Conferences:
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/invited_speakers_details.htm
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
Colloquia:
http://pirsa.org/12050053

marcus · May 26, 2012

marcus · May 30, 2012

Strings 2012 has now listed titles for 7 out of the 43 invited talks:

T. Dimofte Building blocks in 3d SCFT

M. Gaberdiel Minimal Model Holography

G. Horowitz Why General Relativity is like a High Temperature Superconductor

A. Karch* Recent Applications of the Gauge/Gravity Correspondence to QCD and Condensed Matter Physics

H. Nicolai* Alternative approaches to quantum gravity: a brief survey

A. Strominger Progress in dS/CFT

X. Yin* Higher Spin Holography

Conference starts in about 7 weeks, on 23 July.
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html

*Three of the five speakers here are listed as giving "overview" talks. This is a special category of talks which I guess will be allotted extra time and intended to survey what the organizers think are the main areas of current research activity and/or particular interest to the audience.

In case anyone's curiosity is piqued by Gary Horowitz' title, it echos this recent paper:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.0519
Optical Conductivity with Holographic Lattices
Gary T. Horowitz, Jorge E. Santos, David Tong
(Submitted on 2 Apr 2012)
We add a gravitational background lattice to the simplest holographic model of matter at finite density and calculate the optical conductivity. With the lattice, the zero frequency delta function found in previous calculations (resulting from translation invariance) is broadened and the DC conductivity is finite. The optical conductivity exhibits a Drude peak with a cross-over to power-law behavior at higher frequencies. Surprisingly, these results bear a strong resemblance to the properties of some of the cuprates.
22 pages, 10 figures

"cuprates" makes one think "high temperature superconductor" (mentioned in conference talk title).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-temperature_superconductivity#Cuprates
Recalling several participants noted that most talks at Strings 2011 had remarkably little to do with strings and branes, this window of the topics to be featured at Strings 2012 so far tends to confirm that impression and continue the trend.

Job situation basically unchanged from two weeks ago as reported 16 May in post #317. First-time faculty offers to 10 HEP theorists, none specialized in string (most in either cosmology or LHC phenomenology.)
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php

marcus · Jun 2, 2012

marcus · Jun 6, 2012

Annualized research posting rates for 2012, as of 5 June, and annual figures from past years, from the indicated Inspire database searches.
LOOP RESEARCH BY YEAR (loop quantum gravity, loop quantum cosmology, spin foam)

2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (77 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (120 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (142 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (145 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (152 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (203 found)
2012 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (138 annualized from 59 found)

STRING,MEMBRANE,AdS/CFT RESEARCH BY YEAR
(search terms "string model", "membrane model" and "AdS/CFT correspondence")

2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1029 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1050 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1128 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1133 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1044 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (927 found)
2012 http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (723 annualized from 310 found)

http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm 6 June = 157/366

A physicist at the U Toronto (Erich Poppitz) charts first time faculty hires in High Energy Physics Theory (Usa and Canada) by year. He keeps track of what fraction of these are in string, and which fractions are in other branches of theory.
http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
His chart shows 11 HEP theory hires in 2011 of which one was string.
It now looks as if 2012 will be a repeat. Offers have gone out to 11 HEP theorists so far this year, including one string theorist.
Up through 2010, the annual rates shown are smoothed by averaging over 3 years intervals.

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010 2011 2012(prelim)
HEP theory hires   18         24          23          13        11     11
string hires        9          8           6           2         1      1

The source used for the preliminary 2012 estimates is http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
===================

Links checked periodically:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (48*366/137=128)
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
Schools, Conferences, Recorded Talks:
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/invited_speakers_details.htm
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/

marcus · Jun 6, 2012

In the publications listing by year, the Loop figure for 6 June was
141 annualized from 61 found.
6 June = 158/366
The String figure was 723 annualized from 312 found.
===========
As a spot check on the popular book market, at noon on 6 June the five most popular stringy books
(hidden, grand, e-elegant, fabric, e-grand) ranked 2808, 4476, 4651, 4992, 5194 for an average of 4424.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/14545/&tag=pfamazon01-20

marcus · Jun 9, 2012

marcus · Jun 10, 2012

The 2012 research publications rates seem, at least for the time being, to be recovering from a lull in the first part of the year. As of 10 June (162/366) the usual Inspire searches found 64 Loop and 323 String publications. The annualized rates are 145 and 730. It's odd because I'm used to seeing a lull, if there is going to be one, happen in the summer. Perhaps just a fluke.

For the record over the past 6 years, using the same searches, look back to post #321

marcus · Jun 13, 2012

Annualized research posting rates for 2012, as of 13 June, and annual figures from past years, from the indicated Inspire database searches.
LOOP RESEARCH BY YEAR (loop quantum gravity, loop quantum cosmology, spin foam)

2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (77 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (120 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (142 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (145 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (152 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (203 found)
2012 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (146 annualized from 66 found)

STRING,MEMBRANE,AdS/CFT RESEARCH BY YEAR
(search terms "string model", "membrane model" and "AdS/CFT correspondence")

2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1029 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1050 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1128 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1133 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1044 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (927 found)
2012 http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (723 annualized from 326 found)

http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm 13 June = 165/366

A physicist at the U Toronto (Erich Poppitz) charts first time faculty hires in High Energy Physics Theory (Usa and Canada) by year. He keeps track of what fraction of these are in string, and which fractions are in other branches of theory.
http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
His chart shows 11 HEP theory hires in 2011 of which one was string.
It now looks as if 2012 will be roughly similiar. Offers have gone out to 12 HEP theorists so far this year, including one string theorist.
Up through 2010, the annual rates shown are smoothed by averaging over 3 years intervals.

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010 2011 2012(prelim)
HEP theory hires   18         24          23          13        11     12
string hires        9          8           6           2         1      1

The source used for the preliminary 2012 estimates is http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
===================
In the popular book market, at noon 13 June the top five stringy books (grand, e-grand, hidden, e-hidden, fabric) ranked 1574, 3100, 4578, 5703, 6268, for an average of 4245.
===================

Links checked periodically:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#lewandowski
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#moniz
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#pullin
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#amelinocamelia
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/

marcus · Jun 15, 2012

At noon on 14 and 15 June the topfive stringy book salesrank averages were 3966 and 3585.
The five most popular were (grand, e-grand, hidden, e-elegant, e-hidden) and (grand, e-hidden, e-grand, hidden, e-elegant) in that order.
For the most part these are multiverse books, only incidentally stringy, the exception being e-elegant, a perennial favorite.
===========
Usa+Canada HEP-theorist first-time faculty job picture unchanged: offers to 12 people (including one doing string)
===========
A major international conference on GR and related topics, held once every 3 years, is the Marcel Grossmann meeting. The last one, MG12 in 2009, had 845 participants. This year MG13 is in Stockholm. There will be four 4-hour sessions directly focused on Loop and several others on related topics (obserational testing of QG, bounce cosmologies,...). Those chairing various sessions are gradually adding more detail to their "thumbnail" summary statements, so we can watch the following links to see research trends.
ssions, on separate days.http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#lewandowski (Tu+Th)
Parallel Session: QG1a and QG1b - Loop Quantum Gravity, Quantum Geometry, Spin Foams

http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#amelinocamelia (M+Tu)
Parallel Session: QG2a and QG2b - Quantum Gravity Phenomenology

http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#mielke (Th)
Parallel Session: QG3 - Asymptotic Safeness and Symmetry Breaking in Quantum Gravity

http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#pullin (Th+F)
Parallel Session: QG4a and QG4b - Loop quantum gravity: cosmology and black holes

http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#novello (F)
Parallel Session: CM3 - Nonsingular Cosmology*

http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#moniz (M)
Parallel Session: CM4 - Quantum Cosmology and Quantum Effects in the Early Universe

*Emphasis on bounce models where expansion is preceded by a contraction.

http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/parallel_data_grid_2012_06_14.pdf

I see there is also a 4-hour session entitled "String Theory" to be chaired by Mans Henningson:
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#henningson (Th)
and a related half-session (2-hours) "Planckian and Trans-Planckian Physics" chaired by Dmitri Galtsov
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#galtsov (M)

marcus · Jun 17, 2012

The popular stringy book market record has been pared down to just 3 midmonth salesrank figures per year (March, July, and November).

Code:

Midmonth averages of string topfive salesranks
(recorded at Pacific noon on several days around the 15th of each month)
...
July 2009           6485
November 2009         NA
March 2010          7521
July 2010           8461
November 2010       2220
March 2011           349
July 2011           1257
November 2011       1243
March 2012          3235 
[June 2012          3733]
July 2012           ...

So this midmonth June reading will disappear as soon as I have the one for July. It's just to see how things are going in the meantime.

2012 research posting rate for Loop, as of 17 June was 147 annualized from 68 found.
For String, it was 749 annualized from 346 found. The date was 169/366.

The Prague "Relativity and Gravitation" is going on this month, starting 25 June:
http://ae100prg.mff.cuni.cz/program

Next month the big (often over 800 participants) triennial Marcel Grossmann meeting is being held at Stockholm.
A link into that site would be e.g.
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#lewandowski
and then navigate from there.

Handy links for keeping tabs on things:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#lewandowski
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#moniz
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#pullin
http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/par_sessions_chairs_details.htm#amelinocamelia
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/

marcus · Jun 27, 2012

marcus · Jun 29, 2012

A new Stanford/SLAC HEP database called "Inspire" has replaced the former "Spires" utility. Spires provided an annual "topcite" list for each year up through 2010: the fifty or 100 HEP papers which were most highly cited during that year. The new database, Inspire, has continued many of Spires' other services, but so far the annual topcite list for 2011 has not been made available.

Number of recent string papers making the top fifty in the annual Spires/Inspire HEP topcite list
(some years omitted for brevity)

Code:

year                2001    2003    2005    2007    2009    2010   2011  
recent topcite work  12       6       2       1       1       0      NA

Here a paper is counted as recent if it appeared any time in the past five years. Annual topcite lists gauge the currently perceived significance of recent work by how often it was cited by other researchers during the given year.

Links to sources:
2001 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2001/annual.shtml (twelve)
2003 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2003/annual.shtml (six)
2005 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2005/annual.shtml (two)
2007 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2007/annual.shtml (one)
2009 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2009/annual.shtml (one)
2010 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2010/annual.shtml (zero)

The annual Strings conference will be held in Munich this year. So far 369 people are listed as having registered. The conference starts 23 July in about 3 weeks.

Registered participants in the annual conference (some years omitted for brevity)

Code:

Strings 2003 Kyoto     396
Strings 2005 Toronto   415
Strings 2007 Madrid    440
Strings 2009 Rome      450
Strings 2010 Texas A&M 193
Strings 2011 Uppsala   265
Strings 2012 Munich    369 (prelim.)

The program now shows the titles of 8 of the 45 invited speakers' talks:

T. Dimofte Building blocks in 3d SCFT
M. Gaberdiel Minimal Model Holography
G. Horowitz Why General Relativity is like a High Temperature Superconductor
N. Iqbal Friedel oscillations and horizon charge in 1D holographic liquids
A. Karch Recent Applications of the Gauge/Gravity Correspondence to QCD and Condensed Matter Physics
H. Nicolai Alternative approaches to quantum gravity: a brief survey
A. Strominger Progress in dS/CFT
X. Yin Higher Spin Holography

Faculty hiring for the fall semester now seems about complete, so we can begin to form an impression of the 2012 HEP theory job picture. Up through 2010, the annual rates shown are smoothed by averaging over 3 years intervals.
First time faculty hires (Usa + Canada)

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010 2011 2012(prelim)
HEP theory hires   18         24          23          13        11     12
string hires        9          8           6           2         1      1

The source used for the preliminary 2012 estimates: http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
Source for previous years: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08

marcus · Jul 2, 2012

Update on the annual Strings conference to be held in Munich this year starting 23 July, just 3 weeks from today. So far 372 people are listed as having registered. Of which 92 are from institutions in Germany and 70 are from the Usa.

Perhaps the most interesting demographics are the proportions of students and postdocs.
Of the 372 participants, about HALF are listed in those categories.
103 are listed as Postdoc
80 are listed as "student", "graduate student", or "PhD student".

Unfortunately I don't have figures from past years on the makeup of the conference. Just the overall totals.

Registered participants in the annual conference (some years omitted for brevity)

Code:

Strings 2003 Kyoto     396
Strings 2005 Toronto   415
Strings 2007 Madrid    440
Strings 2009 Rome      450
Strings 2011 Uppsala   265
Strings 2012 Munich    372 (prelim.)

The program posted online is unchanged: so far it shows the titles of only 8 of the 45 scheduled talks.

T. Dimofte Building blocks in 3d SCFT
M. Gaberdiel Minimal Model Holography
G. Horowitz Why General Relativity is like a High Temperature Superconductor
N. Iqbal Friedel oscillations and horizon charge in 1D holographic liquids
A. Karch Recent Applications of the Gauge/Gravity Correspondence to QCD and Condensed Matter Physics
H. Nicolai Alternative approaches to quantum gravity: a brief survey
A. Strominger Progress in dS/CFT
X. Yin Higher Spin HolographyHandy links for keeping track of things:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
MG13 (1020 participants) http://www.icra.it/mg/mg13/parallel_sessions.htm
QG!A http://ntsrvg9-5.icra.it/mg13/FMPro...tField=order2&-SortOrder=ascend&-Max=50&-Find
QG1B http://ntsrvg9-5.icra.it/mg13/FMPro...tField=order2&-SortOrder=ascend&-Max=50&-Find
QG4A http://ntsrvg9-5.icra.it/mg13/FMPro...tField=order2&-SortOrder=ascend&-Max=50&-Find
QG4B http://ntsrvg9-5.icra.it/mg13/FMPro...tField=order2&-SortOrder=ascend&-Max=50&-Find
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/

marcus · Jul 4, 2012

Annual research posting rates for past years, from the indicated Inspire database searches. Annualized figures for 2012, as of 4 July = 186/366:

LOOP RESEARCH BY YEAR (loop quantum gravity, loop quantum cosmology, spin foam)

2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (77 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (120 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (142 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (144 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (151 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (214 found)
2012 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (155 annualized from 79 found)

STRING,MEMBRANE,AdS/CFT RESEARCH BY YEAR
(search terms "string model", "membrane model" and "AdS/CFT correspondence")

2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1029 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1048 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1132 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1207 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1048 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1097 found)
2012 http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (815 annualized from 414 found)
==============

2012 first-time faculty appointments for some young people engaged in Loop-and-allied QG research:
Hanno Sahlmann APCTP, Pohang -> Erlangen - Nuremberg U. (faculty)
James Ryan Potsdam, Max Planck Inst. -> UNAM, Mexico (tenure track)
Razvan Gurau Perimeter Inst. -> CNRS, France (research faculty)
Leonardo Modesto Perimeter Inst. -> Fudan U., Shanghai (faculty)
Source: http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
==============
People engaged to lecture at the Beijing QG summer school 12-18 August 2012:
Abhay Ashtekar (Penn State, USA)
Benjamin Bahr Cambridge Univ, UK)
John Barrett (Univ of Nottingham, UK)
Jonathan Engle (Florida Atlantic Univ, USA)
Thomas Krajewski (Univ of Provence, France)
Jerzy Lewandowski (Univ of Warsaw, Poland)
Etera Livine (Ecole Normal Univ of Lyon)
Source: http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
There will also be QG schools in other places this year: Vienna in September and Erlangen in October.

marcus · Jul 8, 2012

The annual Strings conference starts in two weeks, on Monday 23 July in Munich.
The program posted online shows the titles of 13 of the 45 expected talks.

T. Dimofte Building blocks in 3d SCFT
M. Gaberdiel Minimal Model Holography
G. Horowitz Why General Relativity is like a High Temperature Superconductor
N. Iqbal Friedel oscillations and horizon charge in 1D holographic liquids
A. Karch Recent Applications of the Gauge/Gravity Correspondence to QCD and Condensed Matter Physics
H. Nicolai Alternative approaches to quantum gravity: a brief survey
S. Raju Scattering Amplitudes and AdS/CFT Correlators
J. Schwarz Opening Lecture
A. Strominger Progress in dS/CFT
A. Uranga Update on string phenomenology
E. Witten Superstring Perturbation Theory Revisited
M. Yamazaki Networks, Quivers and 3-manifolds
X. Yin Higher Spin Holography
=========

So far 381 people have registered to attend the conference, of which roughly HALF are listed as "student", "graduate student", "PhD student", or "postdoc."
In raw numbers attendance is comparable to past years.
Registered participants in the annual conference (some years omitted for brevity)

Code:

Strings 2003 Kyoto     396
Strings 2005 Toronto   415
Strings 2007 Madrid    440
Strings 2009 Rome      450
Strings 2011 Uppsala   265
Strings 2012 Munich    381 (prelim.)

The particle theory job picture for this year (Usa + Canada, first-time faculty positions) is the same as it was 8 June, one month ago. Twelve HEP theorists have offers, of whom one is a string theorist. Faculty hiring for the fall semester could still change but now seems complete.

Annual first time faculty hires in theoretical particle physics (Usa + Canada)
(Up through 2010, the rates are averaged over 3 years intervals.)

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011   2012
HEP theory hires   18         24          23          13        11     12
string hires        9          8           6           2         1      1

The source used for the preliminary 2012 estimates: http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
Source for previous years: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08

Links:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/

marcus · Jul 13, 2012

In past years (e.g. Madrid, Rome) a cap was placed on attendance at the annual Strings conference, and registration was only allowed up to a certain limit (440, 450...). This year the Munich website's homepage initially mentioned a figure of 500, not as a cap but simply a rough indication of expected size based on past conferences. So far, as of 13 July, 384 people have registered to attend the conference, of which roughly half are listed as "student", "graduate student", "PhD student", or "postdoc."

Registered participants in the annual conference (some years omitted for brevity)

Code:

Strings 2003 Kyoto     396
Strings 2005 Toronto   415
Strings 2007 Madrid    440
Strings 2009 Rome      450
Strings 2011 Uppsala   265
Strings 2012 Munich    384 (prelim.)
Strings 2013 Seoul  ...

Strings 2013 will be held in Seoul, June 24-28.
This year's conference starts on Monday 23 July. As of today titles of 23 of the 45 planned talks are listed. The strongest common theme appears to be boundary CFT-based holography, also called gauge/gravity correspondence--I've highlighted the CFT/holo talks:

F. Alday Mixed correlators in N=4 SYM
M. Cvetič Non-perturbative Effects in F-theory Compactifications
T. Dimofte Building blocks in 3d SCFT
M. Gaberdiel Minimal Model Holography
D. Gross Outlook/Vision
G. Horowitz Why General Relativity is like a High Temperature Superconductor
N. Iqbal Friedel oscillations and horizon charge in 1D holographic liquids
A. Karch Recent Applications of the Gauge/Gravity Correspondence to QCD and Condensed Matter Physics
S. Kachru New Horizons in Finite Density Field Theory and String Theory
S. Kortner Status and latest results of the LHC
H. Nicolai Alternative approaches to quantum gravity: a brief survey
H.P. Nilles Heterotic supersymmetry: the legacy of D=10 and N=4
H. Ooguri Conference Summary
E. Rabinovici (In) Stabilities and complementarity in AdS/CFT
S. Raju Scattering Amplitudes and AdS/CFT Correlators
O. Schlotterer Hidden simplicity in superstring amplitudes
J. Schwarz Opening Lecture
A. Strominger Progress in dS/CFT
A. Uranga Update on string phenomenology
C. Vafa Topological Strings and Their Diverse Applications
E. Witten Superstring Perturbation Theory Revisited
M. Yamazaki Networks, Quivers and 3-manifolds
X. Yin Higher Spin Holography

marcus · Jul 17, 2012

We haven't checked the phenomenology side of Loop gravity/cosmology research for quite a while.

Here's a link that gets (desy key) LQG and LQC papers that mostly have to do with pheno, i.e. with opportunities for TESTING.
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+%28DK+LOOP+SPACE+AND+%28QUANTUM+GRAVITY+OR+QUANTUM+COSMOLOGY%29+%29+AND+%28GRAVITATIONAL+RADIATION+OR+PRIMORDIAL+OR+INFLATION+OR+POWER+SPECTRUM+OR+COSMIC+BACKGROUND+RADIATION%29+&FORMAT=www&SEQUENCE=citecount%28d%29
This ranks by cites and gets around 108 papers.

Let's restrict to ones that appeared 2009 or later:
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+%28DK+LOOP+SPACE+AND+%28QUANTUM+GRAVITY+OR+QUANTUM+COSMOLOGY%29+%29+AND+%28GRAVITATIONAL+RADIATION+OR+PRIMORDIAL+OR+inflation+or+POWER+SPECTRUM+OR+COSMIC+BACKGROUND+RADIATION%29+AND+DATE%3E2008&FORMAT=www&SEQUENCE=citecount%28d%29

This gets 58 papers. Again they are ranked by cites.
I found this link by going back to post #274 on page 18 of this thread.
If that one give difficulty, try this:
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+(dk+loop+space+and+(quantum+gravity+or+quantum+cosmology)+)+and+(gravitational+radiation+or+primordial+or+inflation+or+power+spectrum+or+cosmic+background)+and+date%3E2008&SEQUENCE=CITECOUNT(D)&SKIP=25
It only gets 56 of the 58 but works more reliably.

marcus · Jul 18, 2012

Checking the popular book market, for July midmonth figures, here are some noon stringy topfive salesrank averages.
12 July 1987
13 July 2234
14 July 1865
15 July 2000
16 July 2391
17 July 2809
18 July 3230
Last week was somehat atypical since Charlie Rose Show had Brian Greene on 9 July and Lisa Randall on 12th, boosting string book sales and lowering the salesrank index. From 12th to 18th we see the index gradually rising back towards its earlier level.

Code:

Midmonth averages of string topfive salesranks
(recorded at Pacific noon on several days around the 15th of each month)
...
July 2009           6485
November 2009         NA
March 2010          7521
July 2010           8461
November 2010       2220
March 2011           349
July 2011           1257
November 2011       1243
March 2012          3235 
July 2012           2359

(1987+2234+1865+2000+2391+2809+3230)/7 = 2359

marcus · Jul 21, 2012

Code:

Strings 2003 Kyoto     396
Strings 2005 Toronto   415
Strings 2007 Madrid    440
Strings 2009 Rome      450
Strings 2011 Uppsala   265
Strings 2012 Munich    385
Strings 2013 Seoul  ...

Links:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/String_Theory
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/

marcus · Jul 22, 2012

The organizers of Strings 2012 have done what I think is an excellent job. The full list of 45 scheduled talks is posted and they seem to have gotten people to prepare talks on a variety of string-related topics. Neither overly peripheral nor too much on the same topic, e.g. AdS/CFT.
Here's the 2012 participants list (385):
http://indico.mpp.mpg.de/indico/confRegistrantsDisplay.py/list?confId=1040

Here's the 2011 participants list (265) for comparison
https://www.akademikonferens.se/list.jsf?conf=strings2011-S

Here's this year's list of talks.
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html

And a miscellaneous bit of local color:
"Nevertheless, there is a feeling in the air that the postmodern epoch particle physics is drawing to a close." http://resonaances.blogspot.com/2007/01/cern-th-2007.html
And notes from the CERN Christmas party December 2006.

It's disappointing that so far the Inspire crew has not continued Spires Annual Topcite 100 List.
Inspire is the new HEP database that replaces Spires, and after every year Spires used to post a list of the 50 or 100 HEP papers that had been most highy cited during that year. (Spires also posted an All-Time Topcite list each year but ranking based on all-time cumulative totals changed little and was less informative about the current situation.)
The Annual Topcite list for last year has not yet been made available. So we are still missing the information needed to keep track of this research interest index.

Number of recent string papers making the top fifty in the Spires HEP annual topcite list
(some years omitted for brevity)

Code:

year                2001    2003    2005    2007    2009    2010   2011  
recent top-50 work   12       6       2       1      1       0      NA

Here a paper is counted as recent if it appeared any time in the past five years. Annual topcite lists gauge the currently perceived significance of recent work by how often it was cited by other researchers during the given year.

Links to sources:
2001 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2001/annual.shtml (twelve)
2003 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2003/annual.shtml (six)
2005 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2005/annual.shtml (two)
2007 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2007/annual.shtml (one)
2009 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2009/annual.shtml (one)
2010 http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/topcites/2010/annual.shtml (zero)

marcus · Jul 25, 2012

Code:

Strings 2003 Kyoto     396
Strings 2005 Toronto   415
Strings 2007 Madrid    440
Strings 2009 Rome      450
Strings 2011 Uppsala   265
Strings 2012 Munich    385
Strings 2013 Seoul  ...

Links:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm
http://www.physics.org/toplistdetail.asp?id=28 (popular Higgs explanations)
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/String_Theory
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://wwwth.mpp.mpg.de/members/strings/strings2012/strings_files/program/talks.html
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/[/QUOTE]

marcus · Aug 7, 2012

I hadn't sampled the pop-string book market for a couple of weeks so made a spot check at noon Pacifictime today 7 August. The 5 most popular stringy books (warped, elegant, fabric, hidden, grand) ranked (950+4398+4652+5411+8711)/5 for an average of 4824. Here are some past midmonth topfive salesrank averages for comparison:

Code:

Midmonth averages of string topfive salesranks
(recorded at Pacific noon on several days around the 15th of each month)
...
July 2009           6485
November 2009         NA
March 2010          7521
July 2010           8461
November 2010       2220
March 2011           349
July 2011           1257
November 2011       1243
March 2012          3235 
July 2012           2359
7 August            4824 (temporary spot check)

Faculty hiring for Autumn 2012 now seems to be complete. The particle theory job picture for this year (Usa + Canada, first-time faculty positions) is the same as it was 8 June, two months ago. Twelve HEP theorists have offers, of whom one is a string theorist.

Annual first time faculty hires in theoretical particle physics (Usa + Canada)
(Up through 2010, the rates are averaged over 3 years intervals.)

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011   2012
HEP theory hires   18         24          23          13        11     12
string hires        9          8           6           2         1      1

The source used for the preliminary 2012 estimates: http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
Source for previous years: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08

Links:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/String_Theory
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/
Popular Higgs explanations:
http://www.physics.org/toplistdetail.asp?id=28
CERN Christmas party 2006:
http://resonaances.blogspot.com/2007/01/cern-th-2007.html

marcus · Aug 9, 2012

marcus · Sep 1, 2012

marcus · Sep 1, 2012

A spot check of the pop-string book market on 1 September at noon Pacific time showed the five most popular stringy books (e-elegant, grand, parallel, hidden, h-grand) had salesranks 7349, 8695, 8747, 10814, 12315 for an average rank of 9584

Code:

Midmonth averages of string topfive salesranks
(recorded at Pacific noon on several days around the 15th of each month)
...
July 2009           6485
November 2009         NA
March 2010          7521
July 2010           8461
November 2010       2220
March 2011           349
July 2011           1257
November 2011       1243
March 2012          3235 
July 2012           2359
7 August            4824 (temporary spot check)
1 September         9584 (temporary spot check)

marcus · Sep 6, 2012

Spot check on the year's publications of 6 September (250/366)
148 annualized from 101 found
789 annualized from 539 found

marcus · Sep 7, 2012

Here are some 2012 first-time faculty hires (Loop-and-allied community) and some postdoc/fellowship news giving some idea of the career prospects currently.
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/

==quote==
2012 Postdoc Positions:
...
Cambridge U., DAMTP (philosophy of cosmology) - Offer to: David Sloan (Utrecht; accepted)
...
Louisana State U. (loop quantum gravity & cosmology) - Offer to: Edward Wilson-Ewing (Marseille; accepted)

Penn State U. (Fundamental Gravitational Theory, GR/QC) - Offer to: Yasha Neiman (Tel Aviv; accepted), Thomas Cailleteau (LPSC, Grenoble; accepted), Marc Geiller (APC, Paris; accepted), Norbert Bodendorfer (Erlangen - Nuremberg U.)

Perimeter Institute (quantum gravity, cosmology, ...) - Offer to: Flavio Mercati (Zaragoza), Philipp Höhn (Utrecht; accepted), Ryszard Kostecki (Warsaw; accepted)
...
Warsaw U. (loop quantum gravity) - Offer to: Emanuele Alesci (Erlangen; accepted)

2012 External Fellowships:

Francesca Vidotto Grenoble -> Utrecht (Rubicon Fellowship)
William Nelson Penn State U. -> Nijmegen (Marie Curie)
Muxin Han Marseille -> Marseille (Marie Curie)

2012 Tenure Track/Faculty Positions:
...
Hanno Sahlmann APCTP, Pohang -> Erlangen - Nuremberg U. (faculty)
James Ryan Potsdam, Max Planck Inst. -> UNAM, Mexico (tenure track) - declined
Razvan Gurau Perimeter Inst. -> CNRS, France (research position)
Leonardo Modesto Perimeter Inst. -> Fudan U., Shanghai (faculty)
==endquote==Early universe phenomenology links:

This gets (desy key) LQG and LQC papers that mostly have to do with pheno, i.e. with prospects/opportunities for TESTING, in one way or another.
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+%28DK+LOOP+SPACE+AND+%28QUANTUM+GRAVITY+OR+QUANTUM+COSMOLOGY%29+%29+AND+%28GRAVITATIONAL+RADIATION+OR+PRIMORDIAL+OR+INFLATION+OR+POWER+SPECTRUM+OR+COSMIC+BACKGROUND+RADIATION%29+&FORMAT=www&SEQUENCE=citecount%28d%29
This ranks by cites and currently gets 113 papers. It was slow just now, had to wait some 30 seconds.

Let's restrict to ones that appeared 2009 or later:
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+%28DK+LOOP+SPACE+AND+%28QUANTUM+GRAVITY+OR+QUANTUM+COSMOLOGY%29+%29+AND+%28GRAVITATIONAL+RADIATION+OR+PRIMORDIAL+OR+inflation+or+POWER+SPECTRUM+OR+COSMIC+BACKGROUND+RADIATION%29+AND+DATE%3E2008&FORMAT=www&SEQUENCE=citecount%28d%29
As of today this gets 63 papers. Again they are ranked by cites.
Here is the same search but without ordering by citecount:
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+%28DK+LOOP+SPACE+AND+%28QUANTUM+GRAVITY+OR+QUANTUM+COSMOLOGY%29+%29+AND+%28GRAVITATIONAL+RADIATION+OR+PRIMORDIAL+OR+inflation+or+POWER+SPECTRUM+OR+COSMIC+BACKGROUND+RADIATION%29+AND+DATE%3E2008&FORMAT=www&SEQUENCE=ds%28d%29

It worked immediately. But here's a reduced version just in case a hitch develops:
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+(dk+loop+space+and+(quantum+gravity+or+quantum+cosmology)+)+and+(gravitational+radiation+or+primordial+or+inflation+or+power+spectrum+or+cosmic+background)+and+date%3E2008&SEQUENCE=CITECOUNT(D)&SKIP=25 Links:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/String_Theory
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Events/Loops_13/Loops_13/
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/
http://relativity.phys.lsu.edu/ilqgs/
Popular Higgs explanations:
http://www.physics.org/toplistdetail.asp?id=28
CERN Christmas party 2006:
http://resonaances.blogspot.com/2007/01/cern-th-2007.html

marcus · Sep 14, 2012

There was a surge of multiverse book sales that started in September 2010. This may have eased off some. For brevity I'm only recording midmonth salesrank averages for March, July, November so the September ratings are just a temporary check to see how things are going and will be discarded.

Code:

Midmonth averages of string topfive salesranks
(recorded at Pacific noon on several days around the 15th of each month)
...
July 2009           6485
November 2009         NA
March 2010          7521
July 2010           8461
November 2010       2220
March 2011           349
July 2011           1257
November 2011       1243
March 2012          3235 
July 2012           2359
14 September     7886 (temporary spot check)
15 September       ... 
16 September      ...

marcus · Sep 16, 2012

One way to get an idea of what is going on in a research field is to look at how the programs of the main international conferences in that field are shaping up. It gives an idea of what the organizers think their research community is interested in, and where they think the important developments are occurring. For Quantum Relativists one such is the triennial "GR" conference. The next occurrence will be "GR20" in Warsaw July 2013. The invitation to GR20 just appeared this month and there is descriptive online material. Here is the list of parallel sessions.

http://gr20-amaldi10.edu.pl/index.php?id=18

Parallel sessions: Title (Chairpersons)
A1: Exact solutions and their interpretation (J. Bicak, J. Tafel)
A2: Mathematical relativity and other progress in classical gravity theory (P. Chrusciel)
A3: Modified gravity theories (P. Horava)
A4: Complex and conformal methods in classical and quantum gravity (M. Dunajski)
B1: Relativistic astrophysics (C. Miller, I. Mandel)
B2: Numerical relativity and astrophysical applications (N. Padmanabhan)
B3: Numerical relativity--methods, theoretical gravity and high energy applications (D. Garfinkle)
B4: Analytic approximations, perturbation theory, effective field theory methods and their applications (V. Cardoso, R. Porto)
B5: Observational cosmology (L. Verde)
B6: Theoretical/mathematical cosmology (R. Durrer)
C5: Experimental gravitation (J. Mueller, C. Laemmerzahl)
D1: Loop quantum gravity and spin foams (T. Pawlowski, B. Dittrich)
D2: Strings, branes and M-theory (R. Gopakumar)
D3: Causal sets, causal dynamical triangulations, non-commutative geometry,
and other approaches to quantum gravity (J. Jurkiewicz)
D4: Quantum fields in curved space-time, semiclassical gravity, quantum gravity phenomenology,
and analog models (C. Fewster, S. Liberati)
================
Time permitting, I'll get a midmonth average for September around noon today. Yes, time did permit:
The top five stringy books at noon 16 September (e-fabric, e-elegant, grand, e-grand, hidden) ranked
3811+4313+5725+7351+7922 for an average of 5824
The 2-year multiverse craze in the pop-string market that began in September 2010 does seem to have eased off.
Pre-multiverse stringy favorites (such as Elegant and Fabric) are coming back up the list and supplanting the recent more multiversy Grand Design and Hidden Reality.

Code:

14 September     7886 
15 September       7778 
16 September      5824

The midmonth average comes out 7163

Code:

Midmonth averages of string topfive salesranks
(recorded at Pacific noon on several days around the 15th of each month)
...
July 2009           6485
November 2009         NA
March 2010          7521
July 2010           8461
November 2010       2220
March 2011           349
July 2011           1257
November 2011       1243
March 2012          3235 
July 2012           2359
September 2012      7163

For brevity, only the March, July, November readings will be retained.

Links:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/String_Theory
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Events/Loops_13/Loops_13/
http://gr20-amaldi10.edu.pl/index.php?id=18
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Events/Experimental_Search_for_QG/Experimental_Search_for_Quantum_Gravity%3A_the_hard_facts/
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/
http://relativity.phys.lsu.edu/ilqgs/
Popular Higgs explanations:
http://www.physics.org/toplistdetail.asp?id=28
CERN Christmas party 2006:
http://resonaances.blogspot.com/2007/01/cern-th-2007.html

marcus · Sep 18, 2012

marcus · Sep 28, 2012

Some talk titles and abstracts are now posted for the October conference at Perimeter called "Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity"
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Events/Experimental_Search_for_QG/Abstracts/

Spot check of pop string book market as of midday 28 September: the top five (fabric, grand, e-elegant, hidden, e-grand) ranked 6035, 6955, 7852, 10001, 10552 for an average of 8224. Multiverse craze at least temporarily eased off, it seems, and salesrank standings back up around the pre-September 2010 levels.

Another check of research posting rates, as of 28 September. For comparison with rates in past years, here are annualized figures for 2012 from the indicated Inspire database searches.
28 September = 272/366.

LOOP RESEARCH BY YEAR (loop quantum gravity, loop quantum cosmology, spin foam)
2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (77 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (120 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (142 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (143 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (151 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (215 found)
2012 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (152 annualized from 113 found)

STRING,MEMBRANE,AdS/CFT RESEARCH BY YEAR
(search terms "string model", "membrane model" and "AdS/CFT correspondence")
2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1029 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1048 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1131 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1207 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1062 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1106 found)
2012 http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (791 annualized from 588 found)

For nearly the whole month of November there will be a workshop in Stockholm on Early Universe Cosmology. It runs 5-30 November at NORDITA.
http://agenda.albanova.se/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=2998
There are four organizers: Bojowald, Giesel, Hossenfelder, Sakellariadou. These are familiar names to anyone who follows research in LQG, LQC, and QG phenomenology.

Here is the participants list:
http://agenda.albanova.se/confRegistrantsDisplay.py/list?confId=2998
A sampling of names from the list includes:
Prof. BRANDENBERGER, Robert
Dr. CALCAGNI, Gianluca
Prof. KIEFER, Claus
Prof. LEWANDOWSKI, Jerzy
Prof. MAVROMATOS, Nikolaos
Prof. NELSON, Will
Dr. STEINACKER, Harold
Prof. SZYDLOWSKI, Marek
Prof. THIEMANN, Thomas
Dr. VIDOTTO, Francesca

marcus · Sep 29, 2012

This link gives an historical overview of first-time faculty hires for HEP-theory in Usa and Canada since around 1994
http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
It has been updated through 2011 and presumably will be updated to cover 2012 now that hiring is complete for the year.
For several months I haven't done a simple check of Quantum Cosmology papers (DESY keyword) that have appeared since 2008, a convenient cutoff. That is in 2009 or later. Here goes:
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+DK+QUANTUM+COSMOLOGY+AND+DATE%3E2008&FORMAT=www&SEQUENCE=citecount%28d%29
The first time I tried this today it worked and found 370 some papers ranked by cite-count. Subsequently the link would not work, but then did so later in the day.
Here's a link to papers relevant to testing bounce cosmology models--what kind of traces to look for in the Cosmic Microwave Background. The papers are 2009 or later, the search currently finds 64:
http://www-library.desy.de/cgi-bin/spiface/find/hep/www?rawcmd=FIND+%28DK+LOOP+SPACE+AND+%28QUANTUM+GRAVITY+OR+QUANTUM+COSMOLOGY%29+%29+AND+%28GRAVITATIONAL+RADIATION+OR+PRIMORDIAL+OR+inflation+or+POWER+SPECTRUM+OR+COSMIC+BACKGROUND+RADIATION%29+AND+DATE%3E2008&FORMAT=www&SEQUENCE=citecount%28d%29

Links:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...=&d2m=&d2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb
http://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/String_Theory
Schools, Conference sessions, Recorded Talks:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Events/Loops_13/Loops_13/
http://gr20-amaldi10.edu.pl/index.php?id=18
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Events/Experimental_Search_for_QG/Experimental_Search_for_Quantum_Gravity%3A_the_hard_facts/
http://physics.bnu.edu.cn/summerschool/en/index.php
http://pirsa.org/
http://relativity.phys.lsu.edu/ilqgs/
Popular Higgs explanations:
http://www.physics.org/toplistdetail.asp?id=28
CERN Christmas party 2006:
http://resonaances.blogspot.com/2007/01/cern-th-2007.html

marcus · Oct 11, 2012

An interesting conference at Perimeter starts in about 10 days from now. Video of the talks is expected to be available online. The conference will bring Loop and other non-string QG researchers together with some String folk. I think this is a new trend. Getting different sects and persuasions together and talking to each other. So it is part of the sociology that we are watching.

Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity: the Hard Facts
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Events/Experimental_Search_for_QG/Experimental_Search_for_Quantum_Gravity%3A_the_hard_facts/
60 participants listed--nice mix of AsymSafeQG, LoopQG, observatory and lab QG, String...:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Events/Experimental_Search_for_QG/Participants/
Schedule:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Events/Experimental_Search_for_QG/Schedule/
Abstracts:
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Events/Experimental_Search_for_QG/Schedule/

Last check of research posting rates was 2 weeks ago. Let's see how it looks as of 11 October. For comparison with rates in past years, the 2012 figures are annualized, based on the same Inspire database searches.
11 October = 285/366.

LOOP RESEARCH BY YEAR (loop quantum gravity, loop quantum cosmology, spin foam)
2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (77 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (120 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (142 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (143 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (151 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (215 found)
2012 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0&of=hb (153 annualized from 119 found)

STRING,MEMBRANE,AdS/CFT RESEARCH BY YEAR
(search terms "string model", "membrane model" and "AdS/CFT correspondence")
2006 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2006&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1029 found)
2007 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2007&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1048 found)
2008 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2008&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1131 found)
2009 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2009&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1207 found)
2010 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2010&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1063 found)
2011 http://inspirebeta.net/search?ln=en...2y=2011&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (1106 found)
2012 http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...2y=2012&sf=&so=a&rm=citation&rg=10&sc=0&of=hb (789 annualized from 614 found)

Reminder: for nearly the whole month of November there will be a workshop in Stockholm on Early Universe Cosmology. It runs 5-30 November at NORDITA. It shows a similar "ecumenical" trend to the Perimeter Experimental Search for QG conference this month in the sense that it is drawing together people from a fairly broad range of QG approaches, including some String folks. Getting different tribes of researchers into conversation.
http://agenda.albanova.se/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=2998

Faculty hiring for 2012 is unchanged from last report, and seems complete. The particle theory job picture for this year (Usa + Canada, first-time faculty positions) is the same as it was 8 June, four months ago. Twelve HEP theorists got offers, of whom one was a string theorist.

Annual first time faculty hires in theoretical particle physics (Usa + Canada)
(Up through 2010, the rates are averaged over 3 years intervals.)

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011   2012
HEP theory hires   18         24          23          13        11     12
string hires        9          8           6           2         1      1

The source used for 2012 estimates: http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
Source for previous years: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08

Around noon on 11 October the top five stringy books (e-elegent, grand, hidden, fabric, parallel) ranked 4481, 4962, 6363, 6775, 8313 for an average of 7179.

Sociology of Physics: comment and indices

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