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arXiv · 2512.02673

Chen Ning Yang Retrospective

Abstract

Chen-Ning Yang made important contributions to the theory of solvable models in statistical mechanics, including generalizations of the Bethe Ansatz, magnetization in the Ising model, the Lee-Yang circle theorem, and the Yang-Baxter equation. Most famously, Yang made transformative contributions to the current Standard Model of elementary particle interactions. The proposal of Yang and T. D. Lee, that left-right symetry (parity) is violated in weak particle decays, established that the primary currents involved in weak interactions are left handed. The work of Yang and R. L. Mills gave a framework for force carriers coupling to these currents that are non-Abelian generalizations of the electromagnetic photon, which unlike the electrically neutral photon, carry ``charges'' to which they self-couple . Two decades of work by others on quantization and mass-generation mechanisms then culminated in the Standard Model.

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Stephen L. Adler. 2025-12-02. Chen Ning Yang Retrospective. https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.02673

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