Bootstrap model: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:37, 11 April 2008

Revision as of 18:21, 11 April 2008

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Many in the bootstrap community believed that field theory, which was plagued by problems of definition, was fundamentally inconsistent at high energies. Some believed that there is only one consistent theory which requires infinitely many particle species and whose form can be found by consistency alone. This is nowadays known not to be true, since there are many theories which are nonperturbatively consistent, each with their own S-matrix. Without the narrow-resonance approximation, the bootstrap program did not have a clear expansion parameter, and the consistency equations were often complicated and unweildy, so that the method had limited success. It fell out of favor with the rise of [[quantum chromodynamics]], which described mesons and baryons in terms of elementary particles called [[quarks]] and [[gluons]].

More generally, "bootstrapping" refers to any method of reaching higher understanding by building on lower foundations. The name derives from the fictional [[The Adventures of Baron Munchausen|Baron Munchauzen]], one of whose many tall tails involved lifting himself off the ground by pulling on the laces of his own boots.

== References ==