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Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi” – DIFA

String theory

Areas: Theoretical physics

String Theory is a very promising candidate for a consistent theory of quantum gravity and the unification of all fundamental interactions. Typical ingredients of string theory include extra dimensions, supersymmetry and branes. The low-energy limit of string compactifications reproduces General Relativity and gauge theories similar to the Standard Model (SM). A complete understanding of the implications of string theory for particle physics and cosmology is currently an active area of research. The main research lines are:

String phenomenology and cosmology: effective 4D supergravity theories arising from string compactifications on Calabi-Yau spaces with branes, orientifolds and background fluxes; computation of perturbative and non-perturbative corrections; moduli stabilisation in de Sitter vacua; supersymmetry breaking; applications to cosmology (inflation, reheating, dark matter and dark energy) and to particle physics (realisation of the SM with branes, axions and hidden photons)

Generalised symmetries: generalised global symmetries in QFT and in effective theories of quantum gravity for models derived from string and M-theory; structural role and relevance of generalised symmetries and their anomalies in strongly coupled QFTs, in topological phases and in consistency conditions for quantum gravity.

Symmetries and integrability: exact computation of physical quantities via quantum integrability in string/brane theories and their holographic dual gauge theories

 

Collaborations

  • INFN Bologna: Davide Fioravanti, Federico Carta, Gian Paolo Vacca
  • ST&FI 
  • GAST
  • FLaG
  • Cambridge University, UK;
  • Oxford University, UK;
  • DESY, Germania;
  • Heidelberg University, Germania;
  • Perimeter Institute, Canada;
  • CERN, Ginevra, Svizzera;
  • University of Pennsylvania, USA;
  • Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, India;
  • New York University, USA;
  • Nottingham University, UK;
  • New Mexico University, USA;
  • Oklahoma University, USA;
  • Winnipeg Univ., Canada;
  • State University of New York, Albany, USA;
  • Univ. di Roma Tor Vergata;
  • Univ. di Padova;
  • Univ. di Trieste;
  • Scuola Normale Superiore;
  • Milano Bicocca;
  • Univ. di Calabria, Cosenza;
  • SISSA/ICPT;
  • Miami Univ.;
  • York Univ.;
  • NORDITA, Uppsala
  • Univ., Von Humboldt
  • Univ., Berlino