Scientists / Open questions
Frank Wilczek
Quantum field theory; particle physics
2004 Nobel Prize in Physics
48 questions
Consistency of gauging discrete symmetries by field-space identification: conical fixed-point singularities in the continuum Krauss-Wilczek construction
Quantum completion of the self-interaction correction to black hole radiance: radiation correlations, subleading corrections, and the validity of entropy-driven emission
Foundations and realization of emergent Chern-Simons interactions in 3+1 dimensions: counterterm ambiguity, equilibrium response, boundary-value structure, nonlinear ground states, and materials
Ultraviolet finiteness and explicit value of the geometric (entanglement) entropy of black hole horizons in string theory
Quark-hadron continuity: establishing (or refuting) the continuous connection between hadronic matter and the color-flavor-locked phase of QCD
Realization and phase boundaries of interior-gap (breached-pair) superfluidity in realistic two-component fermion systems
Robustness of quantum cosmic censorship in self-interaction-corrected charged black hole radiance near extremality
Microscopic determination of the Hopf-term coefficient and observability of fractional spin and anyonic statistics of two-dimensional skyrmions
Practical reach of the imaginary-chemical-potential canonical (Fourier-transform) approach to finite-density lattice fermion systems
Quantitative materialization of black- and white-hole analogs at Weyl-semimetal junctions: microscopic band structure, horizon degree-of-freedom dynamics, material design, and measurable signatures
Extending the Shapere–Wilczek gauge theory of low-Reynolds-number self-propulsion: explicit curvature for broader shape families, tangent-plane error bounds, unparametrized shape space, and global bundle topology
Detectability and discrimination of graviton noise in gravitational-wave detectors: realistic quantum states of the gravitational field, detector noise budgets, and the radiation-reaction term
Black-hole-induced baryogenesis: quantitative prediction of and the undetermined early-universe primordial black hole population
Dynamical completion of spinor-based family unification: selecting the confining horizontal subgroup and concealing the mirror families
Completing the entangled-histories formalism: history Hilbert spaces over a continuum of times, a general measurement theory, the causal-inference connection, and temporal Bell-type tests
The many-anyon problem: exact quantum mechanics of three or more anyons and the statistical mechanics of an ideal anyon gas
Precise cosmological overclosure bound on the invisible-axion decay constant: QCD-crossover microphysics, inflation and thermal history, and the string–domain-wall axion yield
Topological order and quasiparticle statistics of the paired Hall state at a half-filled Landau level
Axion-mediated monopole-dipole forces: laboratory detection at QCD-axion sensitivity and first-principles determination of the CP-violating axion-nucleon scalar coupling
Completing supersymmetric grand unification: supersymmetry breaking at 10^3-10^5 GeV, scalar-mediated nucleon decay, superheavy-relic cosmology, and gravity at the near-Planck unification scale
Exceptional degeneracies in interacting Kitaev spin liquids: realistic parameter regimes, self-energy and flux-sector corrections, and experimental detection
Scope and dynamical self-consistency of the renormalized geometric entropy of Holzhey-Larsen-Wilczek: zero modes, fermions, energy-conserving mirror dynamics, and the correlation formula
Foundations, ab initio realization, and observation of the Moody-Shapere-Wilczek non-Abelian monopole gauge structure of rotating diatomics
Earth-skimming ultrahigh-energy tau-neutrino observability at optical detectors: from the Feng–Fisher–Wilczek–Yu rate estimate to a validated, uncertainty-quantified prediction