The Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP) is a research institute within the Physics Department at Stanford University. Led by 16 physics faculty members, the institute conducts research in High Energy and

Condensed Matter Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the sub ...

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

Research

Research within SITP includes a strong focus on fundamental questions about the new physics underlying the Standard Models of particle physics and cosmology, and on the nature and applications of our basic frameworks (quantum field theory and string theory) for attacking these questions. Principal areas of research include: *

Biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

Condensed matter theory Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the sub ...

Cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosophe ...

* Formal theory * Physics beyond the standard model * "Precision frontiers" *

Quantum computing Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Thou ...

Quantum gravity Quantum gravity (QG) is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics; it deals with environments in which neither gravitational nor quantum effects can be ignored, such as in the v ...

Central questions include: * What governs particle theory beyond the scale of electroweak symmetry breaking? * How do string theory and holography resolve the basic puzzles of general relativity, including the deep issues arising in black hole physics and the study of cosmological horizons? * Which class of models of inflationary cosmology captures the physics of the early universe, and what preceded inflation? * Can physicists develop new techniques in quantum field theory and string theory to shed light on mysterious phases arising in many contexts in condensed matter physics (notably, in the high temperature superconductors)?

Faculty

Current faculty include: * Savas Dimopoulos, theorist focusing on physics beyond the standard model; winner of

Sakurai Prize The J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, is presented by the American Physical Society at its annual April Meeting, and honors outstanding achievement in particle physics theory. The prize consists of a monetary award ($10,000 ...

* Sebastian Doniach, condensed matter physicist * Daniel Fisher, biophysicist * Surya Ganguli, theoretical neuroscientist * Peter Graham, winner of 2017 New Horizons Prize * Sean Hartnoll,

AdS/CFT In theoretical physics, the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory correspondence, sometimes called Maldacena duality or gauge/gravity duality, is a conjectured relationship between two kinds of physical theories. On one side are anti-de Sitter ...

, winner of New Horizons Prize * Patrick Hayden, quantum information theorist * Shamit Kachru, string theorist; Stanford Physics Department chair *

Renata Kallosh Renata Elizaveta Kallosh uk, Рената Єлизавета Каллош; born 1943) is Ukrainian-American a theoretical physicist. She is a Professor of Physics at Stanford University, working there on supergravity, string theory and inflat ...

, noted string theorist *

Vedika Khemani Vedika Khemani (born 1988) is an Indian-American physicist and Assistant Professor at Stanford University. Her research considers many-body systems and condensed matter physics. She was awarded the 2021 American Physical Society George E. Valley ...

, condensed matter theorist * Steven Kivelson, condensed matter theorist * Robert Laughlin, Nobel Laureate known for work on

fractional quantum Hall effect The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) is a physical phenomenon in which the Hall conductance of 2-dimensional (2D) electrons shows precisely quantized plateaus at fractional values of e^2/h. It is a property of a collective state in which elec ...

Andrei Linde Andrei Dmitriyevich Linde (russian: Андре́й Дми́триевич Ли́нде; born March 2, 1948) is a Russian-American theoretical physicist and the Harald Trap Friis Professor of Physics at Stanford University. Linde is one of the ...

, cosmologist and winner of

Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is one of the Breakthrough Prizes, awarded by the Breakthrough Prize Board. Initially named Fundamental Physics Prize, it was founded in July 2012 by Russia-born Israeli entrepreneur, venture cap ...

* Xiaoliang Qi, quantum gravity and quantum information * Srinivas Raghu, condensed matter theorist *

Leonardo Senatore Leonardo Senatore (born May 13, 1984 in Rosario) is an Argentine rugby union player. He plays as a number eight or flanker. He made his debut against Uruguay. He was then selected to play against Chile and scored a try in that game. In July 2011 ...

, cosmologist and winner of New Horizons prize in physics *

Stephen Shenker Stephen Hart Shenker (born 1953) is an American theoretical physicist who works on string theory. He is a professor at Stanford University and former director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. His brother Scott Shenker is a co ...

, string theorist * Eva Silverstein, cosmologist, string theorist, and recipient of MacArthur "Genius grant" award *

Douglas Stanford Douglas Stanford is an American theoretical physicist. He is an associate professor of physics at Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics of Stanford University. His research interests include quantum gravity, quantum field theory and strin ...

, quantum gravity theorist *

Leonard Susskind Leonard Susskind (; born June 16, 1940)his 60th birthday was celebrated with a special symposium at Stanford University.in Geoffrey West's introduction, he gives Suskind's current age as 74 and says his birthday was recent. is an American physicis ...

, string theorist known for

string landscape The string theory landscape or landscape of vacua refers to the collection of possible false vacua in string theory,The number of metastable vacua is not known exactly, but commonly quoted estimates are of the order 10500. See M. Douglas, "The ...

; popular science book author

References

External links

Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics

Stanford Physics DepartmentSLAC Theory Group
Stanford University Theoretical physics institutes {{physics-org-stub