String Theory, Particle Physics and Black Holes

Prof Mirjam Cvetic
University of Pennsylvania

8 April 2013 (Monday)
3:30 - 5:00 pm
Chen Kuan Cheng Forum (LT-H), HKUST

Abstract:

In past decades, string theory has emerged as the prime candidate for a quantum unification of electromagnetic, nuclear and gravitational forces. Geometrical aspects of string theory, and in particular the existence of extra dimensions, shed light on important fundamental questions, including the microscopic structure of black holes and the geometric origin of particle physics. The speaker reviews certain aspects of these developments such as introduction of extended objects – Dirichlet branes, and highlights an important geometric role that these objects play in deriving particle physics from string theory. She also reviews the role these objects play in elucidating the microscopic structure of black holes.

About the speaker

Prof Mirjam Cvetic received her PhD from the University of Maryland in 1984. She was Research Associate at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. She joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1987, and is currently Fay R. and Eugene L. Langberg Professor of Physics.

Prof Cvetic’s research encompasses broad thrusts in fundamental theory which include gravitational physics in string theory (seminal work on black holes), work at the interface with differential and algebraic geometry (new special holonomy spaces), leading efforts in string theory compactifications (first supersymmetric intersecting D-brane models and new D-instanton effects) and the study of particle physics implications of string theory. She has been an editor of Physics Letters B since 2000. She has published over 260 papers, with over 14,000 citations.

Prof Cvetic is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. She is a recipient of the Career Advancement Award by the US National Science Foundation. She was an elected Chair of the Advisory Board of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and has also served on numerous national and international advisory panels. She has mentored 15 PhD students and 10 post-doctoral researchers.