"The family of mathematical problems discussed here has emerged in recent years as a result of efforts to put a small chapter of quantum field theory, the so-called external field problem, on a sound mathematical footing. The external field problems is special because the partial differential equations for the unknown field is linear, but the coefficients are allowed to vary in space and time and that gives rise to some surprises, which seem to be of general interest. There is a vast and in large part turgid mathematical physics literature on the subject. To make the general wisdom which has accumulated there more readily available to a mathematical audience I have, in the following, tried to place the problems in their physical context, and still to bring out the essential mathematical questions many of which remain to be answered."
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People from New York (state)Physicists from the United StatesPrinceton University facultyYale University alumniYale University faculty
Original Language: English
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(quote on p. 441)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Wightman
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Arthur Wightman
(March 30, 1922 – January 13, 2013) was an American mathematical physicist, known for the .
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