On the unexpected fate of scientific ideas: An archeology of the Carroll group

TL;DR

This paper narrates the history of the Carroll group, a previously overlooked limit of the Lorentz group, highlighting how scientific ideas can have unpredictable long-term impacts across various physics domains.

Contribution

It provides an archeological account of the Carroll group's origins, overlooked publication, and its eventual significance in modern theoretical physics.

Findings

The Carroll group was initially published in 1965 but gained recognition only decades later.

Carrollian physics now influences quantum gravitation, supersymmetry, and string theory.

Scientific ideas can have delayed but profound impacts across different time scales.

Abstract

In 1965, I published a paper, exhibiting a hitherto unknown limit of the Lorentz group, which I christened Carroll group because of its seemingly paradoxical physical contents. Since I saw it as more curious than relevant, I published it in French in a journal somewhat afar from the mainstream of theoretical physics at that time. It was most gratifying to witness the quite unexpected favour this paper started to enjoy half a century later, so much that a so-called Carrollian physics is now developing, with applications in various domains of forefront theoretical physics, such as quantum gravitation, supersymmetry, string theory, etc. I offer this narrative as an example of the very diverse time scales with which scientific ideas may develop (or not).