Ads/CFT, D-branes & Cosmology

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Ads/CFT, D-branes and Cosmology The most promising theories of quantum gravity are string theory and M-theory. These fascinating theories are still not well understood. This research program is aimed at understanding M-theory and string theory by analyzing the physics of D-branes, which are solitonic objects in string theory. The research is concerned with constructing and understanding D-branes in novel string backgrounds that do not have a geometrical description (e.g. group manifolds, orientifolds). These branes can be used as probes of these backgrounds, and this opens up the possibility of constructing the geometry of non-geometrical spaces! The second aspect of this proposal focuses on the overlap of cosmology and particle physics. The PI and his collaborators have come up with a new candidate for dark matter, which has radically different implications from earlier proposals. He is currently exploring the implications of this new dark matter model for supersymmetric theories.