Ken Wilson: Solving the Strong Interactions

Abstract

Ken Wilson's ideas on the renormalization group were shaped by his attempts to build a theory of the strong interactions based on the concepts of quantum field theory. I describe the development of his ideas by reviewing four of Wilson's most important papers. [contribution to the Journal of Statistical Physics Special Issue in Memory of K. G. Wilson]

Comments: 19 pages, 6 figures; v2: corrected figure v3: minor proof corrections