Conceptual Physics Halloween Costumes 2014

A fine if somewhat intermittent tradition hereabouts has been the offering of high-concept Halloween costumes for people interested in physics, surfacing in 2010, 2012, and 2013. I’m a little too fried right now to do anything all that deep, but I’ll try to offer a few suggestions; see also these particle-physics suggestions from Symmetry magazine, who have an art staff to make animated GIFs of their ideas.

Sexy Tycho Brahe: Ruffled collar, magnificent mustache, a little gold paint on your nose. Critically important that you remember to go to the bathroom beforehand, though– it’s going to be a long party.

The Principle of Least Action: Dress like Pierre de Fermat, and remain perfectly still unless you have somewhere to go. When moving from one point to another, carefully plot out the shortest possible path, and sprint along it as fast as you can.

The Holographic Principle: Stick very close to the walls of the room, but watch everything carefully, so as to ensure you contain all of the information about what’s happening in the interior of the party.

Sexy Dmitrii Mendeleev: Dress like Radagast in the Hobbit movies. Try to get the other guests to line up in order of weight.

Particle-Wave Duality: When nobody’s looking at you, go from place to place in the most wave-like manner possible, say by doing the worm. If you catch anybody looking, stop immediately and walk like a normal person.

The Equivalence Principle: Climb on top of some tall object, jump off, and loudly insist that gravity has stopped working as you fall.

Sexy Arthur Eddington: Round glasses, suit and tie. Publicly humiliate a companion dressed as Sexy Chandrasekhar, then natter on about the fine structure constant for the rest of the party.

And that’s about enough of that for this year. Feel free to throw out your own high-concept costume ideas in the comments.