CAREER: Holography, Quantum Information, and Elliptic Relativity

Brandeis University, Waltham MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project includes two programs of research that explore issues in string theory and classical and quantum gravity with close connections to other areas of physics,especially quantum information theory and particle and nuclear physics: a) A study of the thermal and statistical physics of holographic systems, and quantum gravity more generally, through the lens of quantum information theory; adressing aspects of the deconfinement phase transition and of entanglement entropy, and fluctuation-dissipation ratios, in time-dependent systems. These issues are important for understanding the process of thermalization in strongly-coupled media such as the quark-gluon plasma. b) Continuing the development of practical, general methods for numerically solving the elliptic Einstein equation to find static, stationary, and Euclidean metrics for higher-dimensional black holes and compactification spaces. Such solutions play an important role in both formal and phenomenogical aspects of string theory, in related mathematical issues, and in holographic models of condensed-matter, fluid, and nuclear physics. Broader impacts: Undergraduate research is an integral part of both research programs. Three outreach, mentoring, and physics education activities are also included: TheoryNet is an NSF-funded program in which high-energy physicists visit high-school science classrooms. The PI is participating, and proposes to include postdocs and graduate students in addition to professors. The Brandeis Science Posse Program is a leadership program for science-oriented undergraduates from underprivileged backgrounds, which uses focused training and mentoring strategies. The PI will contribute to both the training and the mentoring aspects. The PI plans to adapt teaching strategies based on interaction and peer instruction to the graduate level, develop assessment tools, and perform a controlled experiment comparing the new methods to conventional lecture-based ones in a graduate quantum-mechanics course.