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Prof. A.W. Peet, T-HEP faculty

Gravity is my favourite force in the Universe.
Einstein's General Relativity is a v. successful theory of classical gravitational fields, describing physics measured in experiments from microscopic scales all the way out to cosmological scales.
But as a quantum field theory, 4D GR is incomplete: it does not know how to handle ultra short distance/high energy phenomena.
How much can we learn about Quantum Gravity? Black holes provide a fascinating theoretical laboratory for investigating this.

Qualitatively new emergent phenomena can arise in physical systems in the limit of a large number of degrees of freedom. How does classical spacetime emerge from Quantum Gravity?
Focus: when do quantum effects come into play in systems with gravitational degrees of freedom, for as many different contexts as possible, e.g. in various dimensions, with black holes?

Two fruitful toolsets I use:
1. some aspects of String Theory, a promising approach to QG;
2. Holography, which came from string theory but doesn't require it.

I am currently looking for one new grad student. If you think you might be interested in what I work on, I encourage you to get in touch. I am not a scary monster and I don't bite! :D
Suggested courses (in order of importance):-
1. Quantum Field Theory x 2
2. General Relativity x 2
3. depending on undergrad background, some of: Statistical Mechanics, Introduction to HEP, Math Methods, Current Interpretations of QM, Entanglement Physics.
For more info online, please visit my home page.