G. Rajasekaran

Quark and Man
 

Fundamental research of the last hundred years traced the Inward Bound path of discovery.

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

Thus, starting with atom, ended with quark.

​

For more information on this, my essay on the Story of Quarks can be read.

​

The theoretical physicist who discovered the quarks was the Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann. He wrote a book: Quark and the Jaguar. (Quark and the Jaguar, M. Gell-Mann, Little Brown and Co, 1994.)   This essay is based on the ideas from this book.

​

Quark and Man

 

• Quark is very simple; Man is very complex.

• But, very few know quark while everybody knows man.

• In the Big Bang at the beginning of the Universe, quarks must have appeared immediately. But it took billions of years for life to appear on a planet and billions of years more for evolution to produce man.

• Quark and man stand at opposite ends of basic research.

​

Which research is more basic?

Research on fundamental particles and cosmology are accepted as basic research. Biology is not that basic, although it is very important.

​

Attempts have been made to order various branches of Science according to of their basic importance.

​

It was Auguste Comte who lived in the nineteenth century who raised this question first. His order was astronomy, physics, chemistry...He did not include mathematics in Science since he considered it as a tool for Science. We must remember Galileo regarded mathematics as the language of science.

​

A University in France used the order: mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. 

​

Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prizes used the order: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology and this is the order in which the Prizes are given. There are many interesting stories about why he left out mathematics!

​

Uniqueness of Mathematics
 

We may take Mathematics as not Science. Science is about Nature and its laws. Mathematics starts with some hypothesis and proves results following from it by logical steps. That is the reason why some people removed Mathematics from Science. Basic mathematics was regarded as a separate branch of knowledge and applied mathematics as a useful tool.

​

Therefore shall we take Mathematics as the basis of all other branches of Science? If so, what is the position of these other branches of Science? What is the meaning of saying that physics is more basic than chemistry and chemistry is more basic than biology? What can one say about different parts of physics? Is one part of physics more basic than another part?

​

Generally, what is the criterion that allows one to claim something as more basic than another thing? We may take the following as the criteria for regarding A as more basic than B.

​

1. A must contain all that B contains.

2. The laws of A must be more general than the laws of B. That is, the laws of B must be applicable to certain specific cases while those of B must be for more cases.

​

Therefore if we regard mathematics as a science, it is more basic than the rest of science. All mathematical constructions will form mathematics. Only a part of that will be used to describe nature. It is that part that will become the language for the Laws of Nature.

​

Next let us study the other parts of Science and their connections.

​

Chemistry and the physics of the electron
 

In the year 1928, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac discovered the correct relativistic quantum mechanical equation for the electron. He said: "This equation is the basis for all of chemistry and almost all of physics." This is a somewhat exaggerated statement. But as far as chemistry is concerned, this is completely correct. For, chemistry is the science of atoms, molecules and their reactions. It is electrons that control all these and it is Dirac equation that controls electrons.

​

Dirac equation led to Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) which describes the dynamics of electrons and the electromagnetic field. From a basic point of view, one can start from QED and explain all of chemistry. But, for much of chemistry, the complicated QED is not necessary. The simplified nonrelativistic quantum mechanics is sufficient. Using the nonrelativistic Schrodinger equation as the basis, it is possible to understand all of chemistry.

​

In reality, from basic physics, only a few simple facts of chemistry can be understood. Even for that, fast computers will be needed. Therefore, for understanding chemistry, concepts such as chemical bond, valency have been created. There is no doubt that these can be derived from QED.

​

Ladders and Reduction
 

Therefore Science consists of many layers. There are ladders and bridges connecting them. Basic Science such as QED sits as a bottom layer. Chemistry
and biology are upper layers. Attempts are made to derive the upper layers from QED.

​

It is good to remember that QED is a part of a much bigger science, namely elementary particle physics or high energy physics which deals with elementary
particles such as quarks and electrons and their interactions.

​

To sum up, all of science can be derived from high energy physics which is to be regarded as basic physics. This is called reduction.

​

This reduction is applicable to parts of physics itself. Condensed matter physics is the physics of solids, liquids and gases. This is an important part of physics. This also can be derived from high energy physics, in principle. This also is reduction.

​

Basic physics and biology (quark and man)
 

Biology also is reducible to basic physics. But many questions arise.

​

Once upon a time, some believed that life originated because of a special agency called 'Vital Force' and that science cannot explain it. But now we know that is wrong and the origin of life can be explained by science. (See my essay "Origin of Life".)  

​

Life on the Earth alone does not constitute biology. There may be many places where in the Universe where life may have originated and evolved. Their biology
may be different from our biology. Life on Earth is based on the chemistry of the carbon atom. There may be some other elements suitable for life in other
planets. Silicon is an example.

​

The genes of living beings are made of four kinds of molecules called A,G,C and T. All life on Earth depend on these four molecules. Is life on other planets use
the same genes with the same four molecules or is it different? Nobody knows.

​

For life to originate on the Earth and evolve into different species, climate, oceans, water and air were either favourable or unfavourable. All the life forms,
including humans, have undergone random changes during evolution. Only after the random changes occuring in the evolution lasting billions of years, the
present species of life appeared.

​

On another planet in the Universe, evolution and the random changes may be different. If so, the species of living beings there may be very different from
those here.

​

But according to our reduction theory, all this will be reducible to our known physics.

​

Biology may change depending on the climate, land, water and air, but its basis, namely basic physics will not change.

​

The special characteristic of man is his brain and his thought processes. Brain research called neurobiology is going on. But much has to be discovered yet.

​

Are the brain and the thought processes beyond science? There are those who  believe so, just as the earlier belief in vital force. But most of the scientists do not agree and think that neurobiology is within biology and so explainable by science.

​

Hence, not only biology but also neurobiology is reducible to basic physics.