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Research Interests
My research is primarily concerned with supersymmetry, string
theory and M-theory. String theory is generally (but certainly not
universally) considered to be the most promising route to a fundamental
quantum theory of Nature that is capable of describing
all of the known physics that we observe in our universe. However
to date the fundamental principles that define string theory are not really known.
Rather there exist five different perturbative descriptions, which are valid
in ten dimensional spacetime; that is five sets of rules that tell us how to
compute physical quantities order by order in some expansion parameter. It is
now understood that there is a single underlying eleven-dimensional theory,
known only as M-theory, that unifies these various perturbative descriptions
and will, once it is better understood, provide a complete definition of what
string theory and quantum gravity is. A major theme of my work has been the study of supersymmetric
branes. These are extended objects that have radically changed our
understanding of string theory and M-theory. The dynamics of such branes is
described by a quantum field theory that ‘lives’ on them. As a result the study of branes provides a beautiful and
powerful connection between geometry and quantum field theory. In
recent years, via the AdS/CFT correspondence, the
study of gravitational theories such as M-theory has become synonymous with
studying strongly coupled quantum field theories without gravity. Thus String theory has turned full circle: beginning as an
explanation for the strong interacting in between quarks, lifting itself up
to a fully-fledged quantum gravity theory in ten or eleven dimensions, it now
returns to the study of strongly coupled field theories in a variety of
dimensions, but most notably three and six dimensions, corresponding to the
M2-branes and M5-branes of M-Theory. Furthermore
cousins of these field theories have also proven to be of interest in recent
advances in condensed matter physics. So it seems to
be that quantum gravity, higher dimensions and table top physics all play in
the same playground. Research Papers
A list of all my papers can be found here Teaching
Here are some pdf files of lecture notes from
some of my courses at King’s. Foundations of Mathematical Physics LonTI Lectures on Supergravity Strings Branes and Quantum
Gravity Supersymmetry
and Gauge Theory Other
I am the chair of the Fundamental Physics UK
Virtual Theory Centre and have a Wikipedia page. |