Sociology of Physics: comment and indices

marcus · Jul 9, 2014

Update to Alabama: offer to Kaminski instead of previous.
So there are still 5 offers outstanding, and 3 accepted.
Noon 9 July spot check of pop-string top five salesranks, elegant, e-elegant, parallel, grand, hidden ranked
5734, 8948, 10893, 12036, 12991 for an average of 10118.

Time to start thinking about taking the regular mid month reading to record for July:

Code:

Midmonth averages of pop-string top five sales ranks,
recorded at Pacific noon on and 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
November 2012       7792 
March 2013          7396
July  2013          9168
November 2013      10558 
March 2014          7065
(spot 9 July       10118)

marcus · Jul 10, 2014

spot check 1PM on 10 July
(6920+10888+12777+18905+20085)/5 = 13915
elegant, e-elegant, fabric, parallel, hidden

marcus · Jul 11, 2014

Short list candidates for first-time faculty appointments (2014) in HEP theory. Of the 8 offers standing or accepted so far, four are in phenomenology, one in astrophysics, one in lattice gauge theory, two in string or ads/cft.
Four offers are pending, four have been accepted.

Alabama (offer to Kaminski):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.Katz.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Tweedie.1 (phenom, experimental)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/I.Kirsch.1 (string, ads/cft)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Kaminski.1 (ads/cft)

Arizona (Meinel):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.Bazavov.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.I.Buchoff.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.G.Endres.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/H.W.Lin.1 (lattice, esp. numerical)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Meinel.1 (lattice, esp. theory)

Buffalo (Marzani and Williams):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Marzani.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/E.Re.3 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/H.Rzehak.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.Schwinn.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.Williams.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.Winter.2 (phenom)

Caltech:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (ads/cft phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/D.Simmons.Duffin.1 (cft)

LBNL:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (ads/cft phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Trott.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.R.Walsh.2 (phenom)

LBNL+PDG staff:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Tweedie.1 (phenom, experimental)

North Carolina (offer to Heckman)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.J.Heckman.1 (string)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.M.Ho.3 (astrophysics, phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/T.Nishioka.1 (ads/cft)
list also includes more senior people

Oregon (offer to Cohen):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/W.Altmannshofer.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/T.Cohen.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (phenom, field theory)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Gori.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.G.Wacker.2 (phenom)

Santa Barbara (Craig):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.G.Wacker.2 (phenom)

SUNY Albany:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Wyman.1 (astrophysics, cosmology, phenom)

Virginia Tech (offer to Horiuchi):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Horiuchi.2 (astrophysics)

York:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Batell.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Cremonini.1 (ads/cft)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/P.Kumar.4 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/Y.Zhang.37 (phenom)

http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php

Here's the list of 15 job openings that have been posted, excluding those where search has been canceled or is exclusively outside HEP-theory.
First-time faculty job listings in or including HEP-theory, for 2014:
Alabama http://inspirehep.net/record/1256870 (broad range)
Arizona http://www.physics.arizona.edu/~doug/latticejob_ad.txt (lattice gauge theory)
Buffalo http://inspirehep.net/record/1251342 (phenomenology)
Caltech http://inspirehep.net/record/1246645 (broad:astro-ph, cond-mat, gr-qc, hep-ex, hep-ph, hep-th, nucl-ex, nucl-th, physics.acc-phys, quant)
LBNL+PDG https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3458 (particle data review + miscellaneous)
LBNL https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3635 (broad hep-th, hep-ph, astroparticle…)
NYC College of Technology https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu/psp...ion=A&JobOpeningId=9894&SiteId=1&PostingSeq=1(condensed matter or computational HEP)
North Carolina http://inspirehep.net/record/1255752 (fund. theory gravity, cosmo, hep)
Oregon https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3180 ("connection with experimental")
Santa Barbara https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/apply/JPF00230 (theoretical astrophysics or hep)
SUNY-Albany http://albany.interviewexchange.com...=513FA348AACE49E37831276F083C9CA4?JOBID=43418 (particle astrophysics and cosmology)
Texas A&M http://physics.tamu.edu/docs/positions/tenure-track_faculty_positions.pdf (astrophysics)
Texas A&M http://physics.tamu.edu/docs/positions/tenure-track_faculty_positions.pdf (cosmology/astrophysics)
Virginia Tech http://www.phys.vt.edu/jobs/Ads/CosmologySearch2014.pdf (cosmology)
York https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3266 (cosmology/particle astrophysics)

Of 15 openings posted, 12 have short lists. The three others are: CUNY Tech (cond-mat or numerical HEP), Texas A&M (astrophysics), Texas A&M (astro/cosmo)

In case anyone is interested, another spot check of the popular book market today showed, at noon, the stringy top five (elegant, fabric, e-elegant, parallel, grand) ranking
8659, 9101, 9351, 10322, 14308, for an average salesrank of 10348.

marcus · Jul 12, 2014

Saturday noon 12 July fabric, parallel, elegant, grand, aud-parallel ranked
(7406+10314+10524+11527+12411) for an average of 10436.

marcus · Jul 13, 2014

Sunday noon (pacific time) 13 July (8111+8480+9667+9735+9832)/5 = 9165
e-elegant, elegant, fabric, grand, parallel

Code:

Midmonth averages of pop-string top five sales ranks,
recorded at Pacific noon on and 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
November 2012       7792 
March 2013          7396
July  2013          9168
November 2013      10558 
March 2014          7065
(12 July       10436)
(13 July        9165)
(14 July            )
(15 July            )
(16 July            )
(17 July            )
(18 July            )

marcus · Jul 14, 2014

marcus · Jul 15, 2014

Noon (pacific time) 15 July (5069+9407+10204+11252+13025)/5 = 9791
elegant, grand, e-grand, e-elegant, fabric

Code:

Midmonth averages of pop-string top five sales ranks,
recorded at Pacific noon on and 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
November 2012       7792 
March 2013          7396
July  2013          9168
November 2013      10558 
March 2014          7065
(12 July       10436)
(13 July        9165)
(14 July        6701)
(15 July        9791)
(16 July            )
(17 July            )
(18 July            )

marcus · Jul 16, 2014

Noon pacific 16 July (6248+8009+11468+12777+13951)/5 = 10491
elegant, fabric, e-elegant, hidden, parallel

marcus · Jul 18, 2014

Noon 17 July
(4934+9325+10357+10736+13603)/5 = 9791
elegant, e-elegant, fabric, grand, hidden

Noon (pacific time) 18 July
(6670+10028+10589+11473+14737)/5 = 10699
elegant, parallel, fabric, grand, e-elegant

Code:

Midmonth averages of pop-string top five sales ranks,
recorded at Pacific noon on and 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
November 2012       7792 
March 2013          7396
July  2013          9168
November 2013      10558 
March 2014          7065
July  2014          9582

(12 July 10436)
(13 July 9165)
(14 July 6701)
(15 July 9791)
(16 July 10491)
(17 July 9791)
(18 July 10699)
(10436+9165+6701+9791+10491+9791+10699)/7 = 9582

marcus · Jul 22, 2014

marcus said:

Short list candidates for first-time faculty appointments (2014) in HEP theory. Of the 8 offers standing or accepted so far, four are in phenomenology, one in astrophysics, one in lattice gauge theory, two in string or ads/cft.
...

Minor update was made today: Alabama's offer is accepted. So now, of the 8 mentioned, there have been 5 hires with 3 still pending. For more details see the quoted post (#493). Here's the context of past years, for comparison.

Hires per year, averaged over 3 year periods, in HEP-theory as a whole, including string
and in string separately.
First time faculty hires in theoretical particle physics (Usa + Canada)
(Annual rates averaged over 3 year intervals.)

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011-2013
HEP theory hires   18         24          23          13         13
string hires        9          8           6           2          2

Source: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
For additional detail see post #403

In 1999-2001, string accounted for about half of the total high energy physics (HEP) theory first-time faculty hires---about 9 jobs per year on average, out of total 18 per year. This declined to about a third in 2002-2004, and about a quarter of theory hires in 2005-2007--an average of about 6 per year. Now the rate for string hires seems more like 2 per year.
This pattern might continue in 2014. We won't know until September, decisions are usually made by the start of the Fall semester. Overall HEP theory hires (to first-time faculty positions) have declined as well. It's puzzling that only 8 (accepted+standing) offers are listed for this year so far. Department interest may have shifted in the direction of applied physics or condensed matter.

marcus · Jul 25, 2014

Spot check as of noon 25 July. top five pop-string salesranks (elegant, fabric, e-elegant, parallel, hidden)
(6625+7405+9979+10098+13033)/5 = 9428.
Which is in line with the mid month average 9582 recorded for July.
Looking back at the record since 2009 when salesranks were averaging 6000-7000, there was a sharp plunge starting in September 2010 (when "Grand Design" by Hawking appeared) related to sensational multiverse String/M envisionings. This excitement continued with the Feb 2011 appearance of "Hidden Reality" by Greene.

In March 2011 the midmonth average was 349. Since then it has been trending upwards and has more or less returned to pre-multicraze, 2009 and early 2010 level. May actually be going higher now.

Another thing to notice is that the top five list nearly always consists of the same titles. The most recent is February 2011 "Hidden Reality" which is limited to 4th or 5th place. The top 3 titles are almost always older books that appeared 2004 or earlier. "Parallel Worlds" copyright 2005 occasionally makes the top 3.

marcus · Jul 27, 2014

Another spot check on the book market. At noon pacific Sunday 27 July the top five pop string (elegant, fabric, grand, e-elegant, e-fabric) ranked
(7288+10634+10819+11506+12540)/5 = 10557
These recent salesrank averages averages are as high as they've ever been. Could be sign of a shift in pubic's imagination. Another possible signal of change (at professional level) is Paul Steinhardt's very interesting talk at Princeton on 23 June.
http://physics.princeton.edu/strings2014/videos/talk1h.mp4
http://physics.princeton.edu/strings2014/Home.shtml
This came Monday afternoon on the first day of the conference in the plenary session chaired by Witten, right after the talk by John Kovac on what has been learned from the BICEP2 report.

marcus · Jul 31, 2014

marcus · Aug 1, 2014

Short list candidates for first-time faculty appointments (2014) in HEP theory, Usa and Canada. Of the 9 offers standing or accepted so far, five are in phenomenology, one in astrophysics, one in lattice gauge theory, two in string or ads/cft.
Four offers are pending, five have been accepted.

Alabama (offer to Kaminski):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.Katz.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Tweedie.1 (phenom, experimental)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/I.Kirsch.1 (string, ads/cft)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Kaminski.1 (ads/cft)

Arizona (Meinel):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.Bazavov.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.I.Buchoff.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.G.Endres.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/H.W.Lin.1 (lattice, esp. numerical)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Meinel.1 (lattice, esp. theory)

Buffalo (Marzani and Williams):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Marzani.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/E.Re.3 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/H.Rzehak.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.Schwinn.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.Williams.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.Winter.2 (phenom)

Caltech:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (ads/cft phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/D.Simmons.Duffin.1 (cft)

LBNL:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (ads/cft phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Trott.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.R.Walsh.2 (phenom)

LBNL+PDG staff:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Tweedie.1 (phenom, experimental)

North Carolina (offer to Heckman)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.J.Heckman.1 (string)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.M.Ho.3 (astrophysics, phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/T.Nishioka.1 (ads/cft)
list also includes more senior people

Oregon (offer to Cohen):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/W.Altmannshofer.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/T.Cohen.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (phenom, field theory)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Gori.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.G.Wacker.2 (phenom)

Santa Barbara (Craig):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.G.Wacker.2 (phenom)

SUNY Albany:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Wyman.1 (astrophysics, cosmology, phenom)

Virginia Tech (offer to Horiuchi):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Horiuchi.2 (astrophysics)

York (Tulin):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Batell.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Cremonini.1 (ads/cft)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/P.Kumar.4 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Tulin.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/Y.Zhang.37 (phenom)

http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php

Here's the list of 15 job openings that have been posted, excluding those where search has been canceled or is exclusively outside HEP-theory.
First-time faculty job listings in or including HEP-theory, for 2014:
Alabama http://inspirehep.net/record/1256870 (broad range)
Arizona http://www.physics.arizona.edu/~doug/latticejob_ad.txt (lattice gauge theory)
Buffalo http://inspirehep.net/record/1251342 (phenomenology)
Caltech http://inspirehep.net/record/1246645 (broad:astro-ph, cond-mat, gr-qc, hep-ex, hep-ph, hep-th, nucl-ex, nucl-th, physics.acc-phys, quant)
LBNL+PDG https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3458 (particle data review + miscellaneous)
LBNL https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3635 (broad hep-th, hep-ph, astroparticle…)
NYC College of Technology https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu/psp/cnyepprd/GUEST/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?Page=HRS_CE_JOB_DTL&Action=A&JobOpeningId=9894&SiteId=1&PostingSeq=1 (condensed matter or computational HEP)
North Carolina http://inspirehep.net/record/1255752 (fund. theory gravity, cosmo, hep)
Oregon https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3180 ("connection with experimental")
Santa Barbara https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/apply/JPF00230 (theoretical astrophysics or hep)
SUNY-Albany http://albany.interviewexchange.com...=513FA348AACE49E37831276F083C9CA4?JOBID=43418 (particle astrophysics and cosmology)
Texas A&M http://physics.tamu.edu/docs/positions/tenure-track_faculty_positions.pdf (astrophysics)
Texas A&M http://physics.tamu.edu/docs/positions/tenure-track_faculty_positions.pdf (cosmology/astrophysics)
Virginia Tech http://www.phys.vt.edu/jobs/Ads/CosmologySearch2014.pdf (cosmology)
York https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3266 (cosmology/particle astrophysics)

Of 15 openings posted, 12 have short lists. The three others are: CUNY Tech (cond-mat or numerical HEP), Texas A&M (astrophysics), Texas A&M (astro/cosmo)

marcus · Aug 5, 2014

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011-2013
HEP theory overall   18         24          23          13         13
string                9          8           6           2          2

Source: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
For additional detail see post #403

Code:

Midmonth averages of pop-string top five Amazon sales ranks,
recorded at Pacific noon on and 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
November 2012       7792 
March 2013          7396
July  2013          9168
November 2013      10558 
March 2014          7065
July  2014          9582

marcus · Aug 6, 2014

On 6 August around 3 pm Pacific, I happened to make a spot check of the pop-string book market and was surprised to find sales ranks so high. The top five (grand, elegant, e-elegant, fabric, parallel) ranked (8738+15097+16595+17724+18664)/5 for an average of 15364.

I'll bring forward some quantum cosmology links so as not to lose track of them:
"quantum cosmology" 1995-1999, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (395 found as of 6 August 2014)

"quantum cosmology" and not "loop" 1995-1999, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (368 as of 6 August 2014)

"quantum cosmology" since 2009, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (717 found as of 6 August 2014)

"quantum cosmology" and not "loop" since 2009, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (352 as of 6 August)

It's easy to see that before year 2000 quantum gravity research was almost all non-loop. From 2009 onwards it has been about half non-loop and half loop-related.

Another useful link (for keeping track of postdoc and junior faculty appointments)
https://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/
While I think of it, I had better copy the 2014 appointments because they will be erased when 2015 offers begin to be listed. The page is kept current.

2014 Postdoc Positions:
Erlangen - Nuremberg U. (loop quantum gravity) - position filled (by ?)
Fudan U. (gravity/cosmology/astrophysics) - Offered to: Pietro Donà (SISSA; accepted)
Hamburg U. (discrete QG, diff-inv. path integral measures) - Offered to: Sebastian Steinhaus (Perimeter Inst.; accepted)
Nijmegen U. (non-perturb. quantum gravity) - Offered to: Jeff Hnybida (Perimeter Inst.; accepted)
Nottingham U. (modified gravity, ...) - shortlist made
Nottingham U. (which group?) - Offered to: Lisa Glaser (Bohr Inst.; accepted)
Oxford U. (which group?) - Offered to: David Sloan (Cambridge U., DAMTP; accepted)
Penn State U. (quantum gravity, cosmology) - Offered to: Brajesh Gupt (Louisiana State U.; accepted)
Perimeter Inst. Theor. Phys. (quantum gravity, ...) - Offered to: Aldo Riello (Marseille, CPT; accepted)
Perimeter Inst. Theor. Phys. (quantum gravity, ...) - Offered to: Yasha Neiman (Penn State U.; accepted)
Potsdam, Max Planck Inst. (string theory and other...) - Offered to: Daniele Dorigoni (DAMTP, Cambridge),
Potsdam, Max Planck Inst. (quantum gravity) - Offered to: Edward Wilson-Ewing (Louisiana State U.; accepted)

External Fellowships:
Mingyi Zhang (Marseille, CPT) -> Fudan U. (1 year) -> Potsdam, Max Planck Inst. (Humboldt Fellowship)
Steffen Gielen (Perimeter Inst.) -> Imperial College, London (Marie Curie Fellowship)

Tenure Track/Faculty Positions:
Muxin Han (Marseille, CPT) -> Florida Atlantic U.
Dario Benedetti (Potsdam, Max Planck Inst.) -> CNRS, France (faculty)
Hal Haggard (Marseille, CPT) -> Bard College (faculty)
Thomas P. Sotiriou and Silke Weinfurtner (SISSA) -> Nottingham U. (faculty)

marcus · Aug 13, 2014

The hiring season for 2014 is nearly over--Fall semester starts in a few weeks. To review first-time faculty appointments (2014) in HEP theory, Usa and Canada, according to http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php of the 9 offers standing or accepted so far, five are in phenomenology, one in astrophysics, one in lattice gauge theory, two in string or ads/cft.
Three offers of the 9 offers listed are still pending, six have been accepted. Post #504 on the preceding page has more detail.

marcus · Aug 14, 2014

Update to research figures in post #505. As of 14 Aug (226/365):
2014 http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...search=search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (137 annualized from 85 found)

2014 http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&...&action_search=search&sf=&so=d&rm=&rg=25&sc=0 (556 annualized from 344 found)

marcus · Aug 19, 2014

Slight change in the Usa Canada first time faculty hiring picture in HEP theory for 2014. Two offers are still pending, but seven have now been accepted. My guess is the 2014 hiring season is about over now (Fall semester starts soon.) So what we see is fairly indicative for the year. Of the 9 offers standing or accepted so far, five are in phenomenology, one in astrophysics, one in lattice gauge theory, two in string or ads/cft.Alabama (Kaminski):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.Katz.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Tweedie.1 (phenom, experimental)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/I.Kirsch.1 (string, ads/cft)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Kaminski.1 (ads/cft)

Arizona (Meinel):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.Bazavov.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.I.Buchoff.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.G.Endres.1 (lattice)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/H.W.Lin.1 (lattice, esp. numerical)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Meinel.1 (lattice, esp. theory)

Buffalo (Marzani and Williams):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Marzani.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/E.Re.3 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/H.Rzehak.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.Schwinn.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.Williams.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.Winter.2 (phenom)

Caltech:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (ads/cft phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/D.Simmons.Duffin.1 (cft)

LBNL:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (ads/cft phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Trott.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.R.Walsh.2 (phenom)

LBNL+PDG staff:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Tweedie.1 (phenom, experimental)

North Carolina
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.J.Heckman.1 (string)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/C.M.Ho.3 (astrophysics, phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/T.Nishioka.1 (ads/cft)
list also includes more senior people

Oregon (Cohen):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/W.Altmannshofer.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/T.Cohen.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.L.Fitzpatrick.1 (phenom, field theory)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Gori.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.G.Wacker.2 (phenom)

Santa Barbara (Craig):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/N.J.Craig.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/J.G.Wacker.2 (phenom)

SUNY Albany:
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.Wyman.1 (astrophysics, cosmology, phenom)

Virginia Tech (offer to Horiuchi):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Horiuchi.2 (astrophysics)

York (Tulin):
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/B.Batell.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Cremonini.1 (ads/cft)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/P.Kumar.4 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/S.Tulin.1 (phenom)
http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/Y.Zhang.37 (phenom)

http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php

Here's the list of 15 job openings that have been posted, excluding those where search has been canceled or is exclusively outside HEP-theory.
First-time faculty job listings in or including HEP-theory, for 2014:
Alabama http://inspirehep.net/record/1256870 (broad range)
Arizona http://www.physics.arizona.edu/~doug/latticejob_ad.txt (lattice gauge theory)
Buffalo http://inspirehep.net/record/1251342 (phenomenology)
Caltech http://inspirehep.net/record/1246645 (broad:astro-ph, cond-mat, gr-qc, hep-ex, hep-ph, hep-th, nucl-ex, nucl-th, physics.acc-phys, quant)
LBNL+PDG https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3458 (particle data review + miscellaneous)
LBNL https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3635 (broad hep-th, hep-ph, astroparticle…)
NYC College of Technology https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu/psp...ion=A&JobOpeningId=9894&SiteId=1&PostingSeq=1(condensed matter or computational HEP)
North Carolina http://inspirehep.net/record/1255752 (fund. theory gravity, cosmo, hep)
Oregon https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3180 ("connection with experimental")
Santa Barbara https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/apply/JPF00230 (theoretical astrophysics or hep)
SUNY-Albany http://albany.interviewexchange.com...=513FA348AACE49E37831276F083C9CA4?JOBID=43418 (particle astrophysics and cosmology)
Texas A&M http://physics.tamu.edu/docs/positions/tenure-track_faculty_positions.pdf (astrophysics)
Texas A&M http://physics.tamu.edu/docs/positions/tenure-track_faculty_positions.pdf (cosmology/astrophysics)
Virginia Tech http://www.phys.vt.edu/jobs/Ads/CosmologySearch2014.pdf (cosmology)
York https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/3266 (cosmology/particle astrophysics)

Of 15 openings posted, 12 have short lists. The three others are: CUNY Tech (cond-mat or numerical HEP), Texas A&M (astrophysics), Texas A&M (astro/cosmo)

marcus · Aug 26, 2014

Spot check of the pop-string book market as of 5PM Pacific on 26 August:
the top five titles (grand, parallel, elegant, e-grand, e-elegant) averaged
(17768+24458+25305+35647+37033)/5 = 28042

marcus · Aug 29, 2014

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011-2013    2014
HEP theory overall   18         24          23          13         13         9
string                9          8           6           2          2         1

Source: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
For additional detail see post #403

Another useful link (QG-related postdoc and junior faculty appointments)
https://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/

2014 Postdoc Positions:
Erlangen - Nuremberg U. (loop quantum gravity) - position filled
Fudan U. (gravity/cosmology/astrophysics) - Offered to: Pietro Donà (SISSA; accepted)
Hamburg U. (discrete QG, diff-inv. path integral measures) - Offered to: Sebastian Steinhaus (Perimeter Inst.; accepted)
Nijmegen U. (non-perturb. quantum gravity) - Offered to: Jeff Hnybida (Perimeter Inst.; accepted)
Nottingham U. (modified gravity, ...) - ?
Nottingham U. Offered to: Lisa Glaser (Bohr Inst.; accepted)
Oxford U. Offered to: David Sloan (Cambridge U., DAMTP; accepted)
Penn State U. (quantum gravity, cosmology) - Offered to: Brajesh Gupt (Louisiana State U.; accepted)
Perimeter Inst. Theor. Phys. (quantum gravity, ...) - Offered to: Aldo Riello (Marseille, CPT; accepted)
Perimeter Inst. Theor. Phys. (quantum gravity, ...) - Offered to: Yasha Neiman (Penn State U.; accepted)
Potsdam, Max Planck Inst. (string theory and other...) - Offered to: Daniele Dorigoni (DAMTP, Cambridge),
Potsdam, Max Planck Inst. (quantum gravity) - Offered to: Edward Wilson-Ewing (Louisiana State U.; accepted)

External Fellowships:
Mingyi Zhang (Marseille, CPT) -> Fudan U. (1 year) -> Potsdam, Max Planck Inst. (Humboldt Fellowship)
Steffen Gielen (Perimeter Inst.) -> Imperial College, London (Marie Curie Fellowship)
Francesca Vidotto (Nijmegen U.) -> Nijmegen U. (Veni Fellowship)

Tenure Track/Faculty Positions:
Muxin Han (Marseille, CPT) -> Florida Atlantic U.
Dario Benedetti (Potsdam, Max Planck Inst.) -> CNRS, France (faculty)
Hal Haggard (Marseille, CPT) -> Bard College (faculty)
Thomas P. Sotiriou and Silke Weinfurtner (SISSA) -> Nottingham U. (faculty)

marcus · Sep 11, 2014

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011-2013    2014
HEP theory overall   18         24          23          13         13         9
string                9          8           6           2          2         1

Source: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
For additional detail see post #403

marcus · Sep 30, 2014

change over time in quantum cosmology research:
"quantum cosmology" 1995-1999, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p="quantum cosmology" and d 1995->1999 NOT d 1900->1994&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (395 found as of 30 Sep 2014)

"quantum cosmology" and not "loop" 1995-1999, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p="quantum cosmology" and not "loop" and d 1995->1999 NOT d 1900->1994&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (368 as of 30 Sep 2014)

"quantum cosmology" since 2009, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p= "quantum cosmology" and NOT d 1900->2008&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (727 found as of 30 Sep 2014)

"quantum cosmology" and not "loop" since 2009, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p="quantum cosmology" and not "loop" and NOT d 1900->2008&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (358 as of 30 Sep 2014)

So before year 2000 very little of QC was Loop, most used other types of approaches to treating early universe quantum theoretically. Then after 2000 the proportion changed. Since 2009 about half of QC research is Loop (only about half is non-Loop)

Does it make any difference if we add "ekpyrotic" to the search?
To repeat, here it is without:
"quantum cosmology" since 2009, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p= "quantum cosmology" and NOT d 1900->2008&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (727 found as of 30 Sep 2014)
Here it is with ekpyrotic added:
"quantum cosmology" or "ekpyrotic" Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p="quantum cosmology" or "ekpyrotic" and NOT d 1900->2008&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (787 as of 30 Sep 2014)
Adjoining "ekpyrotic" does not increase the total by all that much.

It's interesting to look at the half of the QC papers that are NOT LQC-related to see the variety of quantum cosmology alternatives (e.g. matter-bounce, modified gravity, teleparallel gravity, Steinhardt-cyclic…)

marcus · Oct 2, 2014

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011-2013    2014
HEP theory overall   18         24          23          13         13         9
string                9          8           6           2          2         1

Source: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
For additional detail see post #403, and also:
https://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/

marcus · Oct 6, 2014

As of 6 Oct (279/365) research output for 2014.
Loop-related: 144 annualized from 110 found
String-related: 591 annualized from 452 found

As of 21 Oct (294/365)
Loop-related: 146 annualized from 118 found
String-related: 597 annualized from 481 found

As of 30 Oct (303/365)
Loop-related: 146 annualized from 121 found
627 annualized from539 found
String-related: 637 annualized from 529 found

As of 3 Nov (307/365)
Loop-related: 147 annualized from 124 found
String-related: 633 annualized from 532 found

As of 10 Nov (314/365)
Loop-related: 148 annualized from 127 found
String-related: 627 annualized from 539 found

As of 20 Nov (324/365)
Loop-related: 148 annualized from 131 found
String-related: 624 annualized from 554 found

http://www.calendardate.com/todays.htm

marcus · Oct 15, 2014

At noon on 15 Oct the sales ranks of the pop-string top five (elegant, fabric, grand, hidden, parallel) averaged
6283+11369+14471+16040+16585)/5 = 12950

Spot check at 5pm on 20 Oct: the stringy top five (elegant, grand, hidden, fabric, parallel) ranked an average of
(7303+13224+13293+16586+30127)/5 = 16107

Spot check around noon on 1 Nov: elegant, fabric, grand, e-elegant, parallel averaged
(7733+9969+10403+12451+15090)/5 = 11129

For comparison over time:

Code:

Midmonth averages of pop-string top five Amazon sales ranks,
recorded at Pacific noon on and 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
November 2012       7792
March 2013          7396
July  2013          9168
November 2013      10558
March 2014          7065
July  2014          9582
(15 Oct 2014)      12950
(20 Oct 2014)      16107 
(01 Nov 2014)      11129

marcus · Oct 25, 2014

A sign of the times, the #1 and #2 physics bestsellers at Amazon Italia are #46 and #149 respectively among all books being sold.

Bestseller di Amazon

I nostri prodotti più popolari, in base alle vendite. Aggiornato ogni ora.
Bestseller in Fisica

1.
41LuOPIkqcL._SL160_SL150_.jpg

Sette brevi lezioni di fisica
di Carlo Rovelli
Copertina flessibile
EUR 8,50

2.
51gVhuLkLTL._SL160_SL150_.jpg

La realtà non è come ci appare. La st...
di Carlo Rovelli
4.8 su 5 stelle (36)
Copertina flessibile
EUR 18,70

marcus · Oct 27, 2014

Bestseller in Fisica

1.
41LuOPIkqcL._SL160_SL150_.jpg

Sette brevi lezioni di fisica
di Carlo Rovelli
Copertina flessibile
EUR 8,50
2.
51gVhuLkLTL._SL160_SL150_.jpg

La realtà non è come ci appare. La st...
di Carlo Rovelli
4.8 su 5 stelle (36)
Copertina flessibile
EUR 18,70
3.
41oqELd1FCL._SL160_SL150_.jpg

Sette brevi lezioni di fisica (Piccol...
di Carlo Rovelli
Formato Kindle
EUR 4,99

(As of 27 October: #33, #97 in Books, and #255 in Kindle)
(As of 1 November: #22, #31, in Books, and #108 in Kindle)
On the Physics bestseller list there is little change, they remain fairly steady at #1, #2, #3 in the indicated order.

marcus · Nov 10, 2014

Shifting over to recording February, June, October mid month sale rank averages, instead of March, July, November.
At noon on 15 Oct the sales ranks of the pop-string top five (elegant, fabric, grand, hidden, parallel) averaged
(6283+11369+14471+16040+16585)/5 = 12950

Code:

Midmonth averages of pop-string top five Amazon sales ranks,
recorded at Pacific noon on and 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
November 2012       7792
March 2013          7396
July  2013          9168
November 2013      10558
March 2014          7065
July  2014          9582
October 2014       12950

marcus · Nov 15, 2014

Last year in Usa and Canada there were only 9 first-time faculty hires in HEP-TH (high energy theory) one of which was in string (others in phenom. , cosmo., lattice gauge, etc.
This year there seem to be many more announced openings in hep-th, namely 23. I will quote from the usual source and try to estimate what fraction of these mention string. N means not mentioned, Y means string mentioned (along with half a dozen or more other specializations).
======quote from http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php ======
2015 Faculty Jobs:

Austin (deadline Oct. 1)N
Short List:
Offered To:

http://www.baylor.edu/hr/index.php?id=81294 (deadline Nov. 1)N
Short List:
Offered To:

Boston (deadline Nov. 20)N*
Short List:
Offered To:

Brown (deadline Dec. 1)N
Short List:
Offered To:

http://www.carleton.ca/facultyrecruitment/2014/department-of-physics-theoretical-particle-physics-assistant-professor/ (deadline Nov. 1)N
Short List:
Offered To:

Chicago (deadline Nov. 15)Y
Short List:
Offered To:

Davis (four positions, open until filled)N
Short List:
Offered To:

Johns Hopkins (deadline Dec. 1)Y
Short List:
Offered To:

Kansas (deadline Oct. 31)N
Short List:
Offered To:

Kentucky (deadline Dec. 1)Y
Short List:
Offered To:

Michigan (deadline Nov. 1)N
Short List:
Offered To:

MIT (deadline Nov. 21)Y
Short List:
Offered To:

Northeastern (deadline Jan. 15)N
Short List:
Offered To:

http://www.physicsandastronomy.pitt.edu/about/department_openings (deadline Nov. 30)N (phenom.)
Short List:
Offered To:

Princeton (deadline Nov. 17)N*
Short List:
Offered To:

http://www.queensu.ca/physics/canada-research-chair-theoretical-particle-astrophysics (deadline Feb. 15)N (astro)
Short List:
Offered To:

San Francisco (deadline Dec. 1)Y
Short List:
Offered To:

SLAC (deadline Dec. 1)Y
Short List:
Offered To:

Stanford (deadline Dec. 1) N (phenom, connect w exper.)
Short List:
Offered To:

Swarthmore N
Short List:
Bartlomiej Czech
...
Offered To:

UCLA (deadline Dec. 31) N (phenom, astroparticle, etc)
Short List:
Offered To:

http://umass.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp;jsessionid=6C7C1A4A0FFF9D9D253A25368BDB4FFF?JOBID=53338 (deadline Dec. 1) N
Short List:
Offered To:

Wisconsin-Madison (deadline Dec. 1) N (astroparticle, cosmo)
Short List:
Offered To:

marcus · Dec 3, 2014

Code:

period          1999-2001   2002-2004   2005-2007   2008-2010  2011-2013    2014
HEP theory overall   18         24          23          13         13         9
string                9          8           6           2          2         1

Source: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~poppitz/Jobs94-08
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/rumor/doku.php
For additional detail see post #403, and also:
https://sites.google.com/site/grqcrumourmill/

I'll bring forward some quantum cosmology links:

"quantum cosmology" since 2009, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p= "quantum cosmology" and NOT d 1900->2008&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (753 found as of 6 Dec 2014)

"quantum cosmology" and not "loop" since 2009, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p="quantum cosmology" and not "loop" and NOT d 1900->2008&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (372 as of 6 Dec 2014)

From 2009 onwards quantum cosmology research has been about half loop-related and half non-loop.
Before year 2000 it was almost all non-loop. So there has been a shift in research activity and interest.

"quantum cosmology" 1995-1999, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p="quantum cosmology" and d 1995->1999 NOT d 1900->1994&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (396 found as of 6 Dec 2014)

"quantum cosmology" and not "loop" 1995-1999, Inspire search:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p="quantum cosmology" and not "loop" and d 1995->1999 NOT d 1900->1994&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0 (369 as of 6 Dec 2014)

marcus · Dec 15, 2014

Research outputs for 2014, as of 18 December (352/365)
147 annualized from 142 found
637 annualized from 613 found

marcus · Dec 30, 2014

Code:

Midmonth averages of pop-string top five Amazon sales ranks,
recorded at Pacific noon on and 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
November 2012       7792
March 2013          7396
July  2013          9168
November 2013      10558
March 2014          7065
July  2014          9582
October 2014       12950
(3 January 2015    11731)
(5 February 2015   11370)

5 Feb: elegant, grand, fabric, parallel, hidden (4889+7254+10435+15127+19148)/5 = 11370

marcus · Feb 5, 2015

Now that the Inspire topcite results for 2014 are posted, I want to continue this index along the lines of post #469.

marcus said:
Annual topcite lists gauge the currently perceived significance of recent work by how often it was cited by other researchers during the given year. Papers are ranked by the number of citations in other research they received that year.
Number of recent string papers making Inspire's top forty annual citations list
(some years omitted for brevity)
Code:
year           2001   2003   2005   2007   2009   2011   2012   2013
recent toppers   11     6      3      1      1      0      0      0
Here a paper is counted as recent if it appeared any time in the preceding five years.
Links to sources:
2001 http://inspirehep.net/info/hep/stats/topcites/2001/annual.html (eleven)
2003 http://inspirehep.net/info/hep/stats/topcites/2003/annual.html (six)
2005 http://inspirehep.net/info/hep/stats/topcites/2005/annual.html (three)
2007 http://inspirehep.net/info/hep/stats/topcites/2007/annual.html (one)
2009 http://inspirehep.net/info/hep/stats/topcites/2009/annual.html (one)
2011 http://inspirehep.net/info/hep/stats/topcites/2011/annual.html (zero)
2012 http://inspirehep.net/info/hep/stats/topcites/2012/annual.html (zero)
2013 http://inspirehep.net/info/hep/stats/topcites/2013/annual.html (zero)

Only 5 string papers, none of them recent, made the 2013 top forty list. As it happened all five papers were from the period 1997-1999. This is the first time I can remember when no string papers from year 2000 or later made the top forty.

Annual topcite lists gauge the currently perceived significance of recent work by how often it was cited by other researchers during the given year. Papers are ranked by the number of citations in other research they received that year.
Number of recent string papers making Inspire's top forty annual citations list
(some years omitted for brevity)

Code:

year           2001   2003   2005   2007   2009   2011   2012   2013   2014
recent toppers   11     6      3      1      1      0      0      0      0

Sociology of Physics: comment and indices

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