PER BERGLUND

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics

(603) 862-2308
(f) (603) 862-2998
9 Library Road Durham New Hampshire 03824
E-mail: per.berglund@unh.edu

http://www.physics.unh.edu/~silas/Theory.html

Expertise:

Theoretical particle physics, String theory

Professional Interests:

String theory has emerged as a leading candidate for a quantum theory of gravity, i.e. a theory which encompasses both quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of general relativity. Advances in our understanding of string theory have recently come about due to the concept of duality. In particular, duality can be used to relate two theories: e.g., a strongly coupled theory and a weakly coupled one. In this fashion, it connects all known string theories (and 11-dimensional M-theory/ supergravity) which previously were thought to be distinct simply because they differ from a perturbative point of view. To elucidate the conjectured relationships, it is often useful to compactify to lower dimensions and then study the effects of duality. Of particular interest are compactifications on Calabi-Yau manifolds of various dimensions and amounts of supersymmetry. A common theme is the study of the extra, compact dimensions and how these spaces determine the physics we observe in our universe.

I am interested in the interplay between geometry and string theory and how the geometry of spacetime determines the physics observed in the universe. In particular, the role of singularities in the spaces spanning the extra six (seven) dimensions in understanding four dimensional physics are important. Studying these singularities will shed light on how the elementary particles observed in nature acquire their masses and why there exists a hierarchy of length scales. These results will help address the question of why the cosmological constant is so small. My research also focuses on time-dependent solutions in string theory and how these solutions can be used for gaining a better understanding of cosmological singularities such as the Big Bang.

Education:

1993	Ph.D. in Physics, University of Texas, Austin, Texas
1988	B.S. in Physics, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden

Publications: