Further information
Professor Daniel Waldram presents his Inaugural Lecture on ‘Twinned realities: duality in string theory’.
In the Chair: Professor Joanna D. Haigh, Head of the Department of Physics
Vote of Thanks: Professor Burt A. Ovrut, University of Pennsylvania
A pre-lecture tea will take place from 16.45 and a drinks reception will follow in
the Blackett Common Room, Level 8, Blackett Building
Abstract: “Twin realities of this phantom world”, Coleridge’s phrase inadvertently captures
what appears to be a remarkable feature of nature; the duality symmetry of string theory.
String theory seeks to address a central question of modern physics: how can the shadowy
world of quantum mechanics be combined with Einstein’s geometrical theory of gravity? The
idea is remarkably simple. What if the fundamental constituents of nature are not point-like
particles but tiny loops, or strings? This not only makes for a consistent quantum theory
of gravity but also potentially unifies gravity with the other fundamental forces. Astonishingly,
it implies that what a priori are utterly different physical realities are in fact the same:
universes of contrary shapes and sizes or even different dimensions, worlds with the force of
gravity and those without. These unexpected dualities are one of the most powerful ideas in
string theory and understanding their origin is central to its development.
Biography: Daniel Waldram completed his PhD in theoretical physics at the University of
Chicago in 1993. After earning an MSc in Public Policy, he worked as a postdoctoral research
fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, a research associate and lecturer at Princeton
University, and a fellow at CERN in Geneva. In 2000, he became a Royal Society University
Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London, transferring to Imperial in 2003. His
work has focused mainly on geometrical aspects of string theory: building realistic particle
physics models, studying properties of supersymmetric string backgrounds, and exploring
gauge-gravity dualities.