Cosmology, Gravity and Strings
Brandeis is a center of forefront research in classical and quantum gravity, cosmology, quantum field theory and elementary particle physics. The members of the theory group have played pivotal roles in these areas.
Some of their significant recent contributions have been in string theory as well as its applications to cosmology, supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, lower-dimensional physics, topological field theory and quantum fields in cosmological backgrounds.
The group currently consists of two faculty members, several postdoctoral research associates, and advanced graduate students. Much of the work is collaborative, and graduate students are heavily involved in the day-to-day research. All are supported by long-running research grants from the NSF, the DOE, and other agencies.
Professor Albion Lawrence's research includes the mathematics of supersymmetric string compactifications, nonperturbative definitions of string theory, the interface between string theory and observational cosmology, and nonperturbative methods in quantum field theory.
Professor Howard Schnitzer is engaged in research in string theory, supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, conformal and topological field theories, and other aspects of quantum field theory.
 |
|||
| Temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation imaged by the WMAP mission. This is an image of the universe 270,000 years after the Big Bang, and shows the beginning of structure formation. | |||