Riazuddin (physicist)

Early years

Riazuddin was born in Ludhiana in British Punjab of British Indian Empire in 1930 to a respected middle-class family. After the partition, the family migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and settled in Lahore, West-Pakistan. At age 17, Riazuddin attended Punjab University, and took his B.Sc.(Hons) in Mathematics under the contemporary supervision of Abdus Salam in 1951. Riazuddin is the only student who has privileged to study Physics and Mathematics under the supervision of Abdus Salam at the Undergraduate level in Punjab University and at the Postgraduate level at the Cambridge University. As student of mathematics, he learned the advanced course on quantum mechanics under Abdus Salam, as he had made the course of quantum mechanics outside the regular curriculum. In 1951, Salam funded his scholarship, and helped him admitted at the graduate school of the Punjab University. In 1953, Abdus Salam supervised his M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics where his master's dissertation dealt with fundamental concepts of Mathematical physics. By the time, he published his thesis in 1953, it had gained him a national reputation and received a Gold medal from the Punjab University for the post-graduate contributions to physics and mathematics.

With the help of Abdus Salam, Riazuddin went to the United Kingdom on a scholarship under the auspices of Abdus Salam, and attended Cambridge University. At Cambridge, he was awarded his PhD in Theoretical physics under the watchful supervision of Abdus Salam in 1959. Riazuddin's dissertation were written on "Charge Radius of Pion" where he had also covered a vast amount of study to the field of quantum theory. Riazuddin came back to Pakistan where he joined his Alma mater as an Associate professor. In 1968, Riazuddin was awarded the Gold Medal in Physical Sciences for scientists under 40 years of age by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

Academic career

After his doctorate in 1959 Riazuddin returned to Pakistan to visit his family. In 1959, he joined Punjab University as an associate professor of Mathematics. In 1963, Riazuddin travelled to United States in a fellowship awarded by his physicist friends Norman March and Michael Duff. At United States, he became a research associate professor at University of Rochester where he stayed until 1965. The same year, he joined University of Pennsylvania where he taught physics until 1966. Later, he went to Chicago, Illinois where he joined his brother Fayyazuddin, and theoretical physicists Faheem Hussain and Peter Rottoli. Riazuddin joined University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute where they created "Relativity Group". However in 1968, Riazuddin returned to Pakistan on the request of Abdus Salam, and joined Quaid-i-Azam University's Institute of Physics. He was the founding director of Institute of Physics (IP) where he engaged the research on string theory, theory of relativity, particle physics and nuclear physics. Later, the scientists of Relativity Group at Enrico Fermi Institute returned to Pakistan on the request of Abdus Salam. In 1970, he again went to United States where he became professor of Mathematics at the University of Maryland. Riazuddin left United States for Italy as he was asked by Salam to join International Centre for Theoretical Physics in 1970. He was joined by other Salam's student where they created Theoretical Physics Group at the ICTP. In 1971, Riazuddin travelled to United Kingdom to join Daresbury Nuclear Physics Laboratory where he was joined by Michael Duff. At Daresbury, he a became senior research associate. There, Riazuddin gained expertise and specialised in nuclear physics. At the Laboratory, he was among one of the respected and well-known senior research scientists, where he also trained British scientists in the field of nuclear physics.

In 1981, he became visiting professor of physics and mathematics University of Iowa and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In 1982, Riazuddin came back to Pakistan where he joined Quaid-e-Azam University as a professor of theoretical physics. In 1982, Riazuddin also went to Saudi Arabia where he joined King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals where Riazuddin became Chairman of Department of Mathematics and Statistics whereas also taught physics at the Department of Physics. In 1983, Riazuddin, along with Asghar Qadir, went to Trieste, Italy, to join International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Both scientists joined Abdus Salam where they had continued research in their respected fields under Salam. In 1998, Riazuddin left King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and came back to Pakistan to rejoin PAEC.

Scientific research

Riazuddin made important contributions in physics, and he either pioneered or associated with all aspects of the field. During his post-graduate research, Riazuddin made important contribution to mathematical physics, as he was highly interested in complex mathematical series, and its relations to modern physics. In 1959, Riazuddin was the first one to use the dispersion relation for Compton scattering of virtual photons on pions to analyse their charge radius. For this contributions, he was awarded the doctorate in physics (theoretical) by the Cambridge University. He seldom published papers, preferring long correspondences with his brother Fayyazuddin, mentor Abdus Salam, and colleagues such as Asghar Qadir, Michael Duff, and Masud Ahmad with whom he has developed extremely close friendships. During the 1960s, he associated himself with complex mathematical applications of nuclear physics. In 1960, Riazuddin used Nucleon-nucleon dispersion relation to discriminate proton-proton scattering in Pseudoscalar meson. In 1965, Riazuddin carried out the pioneering work on Vector current, in which, he showed the discrepancy between μ-decay and the constant gravity, and the strong interaction renormalisation of the β-decay.

The same year, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, partnered with Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, sponsored a research to Riazuddin. Along with Munir Ahmad Rashid and Fayyazuddin, Riazuddin realised that the physical baryons are considered broken in Special unitary group, Symmetric group and the Tensor product. The papers of such knowledge were submitted at the United States Atomic Energy Commission, due to its sensitive applications. In 1967, at the Fermi Institute, Riazuddin, with his brother Fayyazuddin, carried out the in field of Current algebra, where they applied the mathematical framework of current algebra in the applications of Radiative decays of mesons.

In 1982, Riazuddin and Fayyazuddin published a pioneering work on K mesons. Riazuddin postulated that radioactive decay in K mesons are almost vanished up when Chiral symmetry is introduced. After the introduction, the symmetries breaks the Standard Model even when the contribution from penguin diagrams is included.

From 1972, Riazuddin made pioneering research on neutrinos— an elusive particle postulated by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930. In 1972, Riazuddin and Fayyazuddin were the first one to mathematical frameworks of Current-algebra in neutrino scattering to determine the Scale invariance of Chiral symmetry breaking the Hamiltonian Quantum Mechanics. In 1987, Riazuddin and Fayyazuddin, theorised that it is possible get light-neutrino masses in the range of a few electron volts by equalising the masses of superheavy neutrinos in Background independence (universality).

In 2000, Riazuddin began his research in the series unsolved problems in physics where he published papers in a large sum. In 2005, at the National Center for Physics (NCP), Riazuddin presented his briefed papers on neutrinos where he provided the mathematical framework of the neutrinos. Neutrinos have heavier masses but the Neutrino oscillations do not completely identify the overall scale of their exact masses because they are exceedingly tiny. To determine the exact masses, Riazuddin introduced the laws of limits, as he realised there was a limit, to the electron energy spectra in tritium β-decay. In 2007, Riazuddin introduced SU(3) symmetry in the theory of double beta decay. He postulated the light neutrinos formed a Triplet state in a SU(3) symmetry during the process. In 2008, Riazuddin pointed out that the neutrino mass has μ and τ symmetry and Lepton number remains constant, a new type of Seesaw mechanism is formed, the so-called Riazuddin's Seesaw Model, the Dirac mass matrix provided the Yukawa coupling to follow the Majorana fermion to satisfy the Leptogenesis asymmetry. Riazuddin proposed that this such interaction can be avoid when two of the heavy right-hand neutrinos are (nearly) degenerate.

In recent 2009, Riazuddin published a mathematical theory of non-standard model, and its brief extensions to τ (tau) — a particle that is similar to electron with negative electric charge. In an experiment performed at Synchrotron light source installed at the National Center for Physics (NCP), Riazuddin observed the decay of Tau particle, in which he theorised, that hadronisation Vector current and Axial vector can be used to study the implicit proprieties and functions of hadronic resonances, together with Chiral symmetry. These natural elements can be assigned to the parts weak current that the strong nuclear interaction conserve. With introduction of such elementary particles, it will be critical to study the particle elements that rules to hold the weak interaction.

1971 war and atomic bomb project

During his stay at PAEC, Riazuddin and his physicist brother Fayyazuddin, who is also a distinguished student of Abdus Salam, were central figures of Pakistan's atomic program during the early and critical years. In December 1972, Riazuddin at ICTP, returned to Pakistan on the request of Abdus Salam. Salam asked Riazuddin to report to Munir Ahmad Khan — chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission at that time. At PAEC, Salam personally assigned Riazuddin to his Theoretical Physics Group (TPG). The Theoretical Physics Group took research in Fast neutron calculations — how neutrons moved in a nuclear chain reaction – the theory simultaneity — how would fission weapon would detonated from several points at the same point during the detonation process – and hydrodynamics – how the explosion produced by a chain reaction might behave – and what kind of and how much fissile material and reflectors would be use. Salam had gravitated theoretical physicists who worked under Riazuddin despite his younger age. Riazuddin was among one the scientist that attended the Multan meeting that was managed by Abdus Salam and convened by President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, later elected Prime minister. After the meeting, Salam had taken Riazuddin, with Munir Ahmad Khan, to Bhutto's residence in Islamabad where scientists have had brief Bhutto about the development of nuclear weapons programme.

Although Salam had travelled to United States to evade the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, and returned to Pakistan with stacks of historical books on Manhattan Project in December 1971. In December 1973, University of Maryland offered him a fellowship, and on the advice of Salam, Riazuddin went to United States. There, he became a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, obtained the open-source information on the "Manhattan Project" from the Library of Congress. Riazuddin carefully studied American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer's approach to develop the first implosion device, and made further advances on Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit, Oppenheimer-Phillips process, Born–Oppenheimer approximation.

After his return from the United States, Riazuddin was inducted into the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) as member (technical). In 1974, he began to take research with the TPG, and began one of the pioneering member of the TPG. In 1973, Raziddin Siddiqui formed the Mathematical Physics Group (MPG) which closely collaborated with Theoretical Physics Group. Riazuddin called his mathematician friend Asghar Qadir, who specialised in special relativity under Riazuddin and Salam, to join Mathematical Physics Group. Qadir later in his career published a college text book on theory of special relativity. Shortly after the India's surprise nuclear test — Pokhran-I. Munir Ahmad Khan had called for a meeting to initiate the work on atomic bomb. Riazuddin and Salam had represented the Theoretical Physics Group (TPG), and it was decided to develop the implosion method for the first device. During the meeting, the word "bomb" was never used, instead academic scientists preferred to use the scientific research rationale. The Theoretical Physics Group began its research and directly reported to Abdus Salam.

In 1977 both MPG and TPG scientists completed the design and calculation of an atomic bomb. Along with Qadir, Riazuddin continued to develop the theoretical designs of the atomic weapon during 1978. In 1982 the PAEC finally developed the device under the leadership of Munir Ahmad Khan. The PAEC carried out the first cold-test of the TPG's theoretical design by May 1983 at the Kirana Hills. The test teams were headed by Ishfaq Ahmad, a nuclear physicist, as Munir Ahmad Khan supervised the testings

Riazuddin later disclosed that he worked as part of the team, under Abdus Salam, that worked on designs for Pakistan's nuclear explosive device. As he explained:

Riazuddin also worked in a neutron particle accelerator at PAEC. In 2000, Riazuddin retired from PAEC as a chief scientist. In the same year, he was elected as Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the Islamic Academy of Sciences. Riazuddin is also a visiting scientist at CERN.

Legacy and fame

Riazuddin is an internationally known theoretical physicist. He has made contributions in CERN's LHC. At CERN, he is a widely respected theoretician. Riazuddin is the recipient of Pakistan's highest civil awards: Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz. He is one of the Pakistani scientists who were very close to Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Abdus Salam. At PAEC, Riazuddin has closely worked with another noted Pakistani theoretical physicist Raziuddin Siddiqui (late). Currently, he is working as a professor of theoretical physics and neutrino physics at the National University of Sciences and Technology, in Islamabad.

He has also been the director of the Riazuddin National Center for Physics, also at Quaid-e-Azam University. He is most famous for his TPG Group where Riazuddin and his team of theoretical physicists are widely credited to have developed and designed Pakistan's nuclear weapon devices theoretically. Due to his contributions to his nation's nuclear program, Riazuddin is a respected scientist in his country.

On 26 April 2009, a day-long conference was held in Islamabad to pay tribute to an eminent research scientist and theoretical physicist, Riazuddin. The conference was organised by National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) and Riazuddin National Centre for Physics (RNCP). In the conference, Masud Ahmad, who is also the student of his, said:

"Prof. Riaz always put in his best efforts to obtain original results while working on various issues related to science and technology".

NUST Rector and a famous Pakistani aerospace engineer, Air Commodore Muhammad Asghar heavily paid tributes to him and said:

"Prof. Riazuddin has a very strong and professional background in the field of Physics. He achieved many distinctions and awards from national as well as international institutes, which includes Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz and awards from UNESCO, Economic Cooperation Organisation and COMSTECH Prize in Physics".

Quotes by Riazuddin

Riazuddin eulogising Abdus Salam on his anniversary at International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in 1997.

Riazuddin while condoling the death of Gallieno Denardo at ICTP in 2004.

Awards and honours

Fellowships

Institutes named after Riazuddin

Bibliography

Scientific articles

Riazuddin, Riazuddin National Center for Physics.