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Dr David Vegh

David

STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow | Senior Lecturer in Theoretical Physics

Email: d.vegh@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: 0207 882 6576
Room Number: G. O. Jones Building, Room 615

Profile

I completed my undergraduate studies at Eötvös University in Budapest, spending a semester at Humboldt and the Free University of Berlin. Following that, I did my PhD at MIT, after which I was a postdoc at the Simons Center in Stony Brook, CERN, Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, and Utrecht University before joining the Centre for Theoretical Physics in 2017.

Undergraduate Teaching

I teach Physical Dynamics (SPA5304 2nd year BSc, semester B). I also offer 3rd-year, 4th-year and MSc research projects in the areas of string theory, black hole physics, and holography.

Postgraduate Teaching

I teach Advanced Quantum Field Theory (SPA7001P MSc, semester B). I also offer research projects in the areas of string theory, black hole physics, and holography.

Research

Research Interests:

Our current understanding of Nature is centered around two theories: general relativity which describes classical gravity, and quantum field theory which describes the strong and electroweak interactions and various low-energy phenomena. Naive attempts to unify these two theories lead to insurmountable difficulties. Moreover, a unified theory would ideally explain recent cosmological observations such as the acceleration of the universe, dark matter, and cosmic inflation. Addressing these challenges requires new ideas.

In recent years it has become clear that gravity and quantum physics are not incompatible. On the contrary, they are intimately connected: the emergence of spacetime is thought to be related to the quantum entanglement of degrees of freedom in a “holographic dual” quantum system. However, the nature of this emergence is not fully understood and controlled toy models for emergent gravity would be extremely valuable. The main objective of my current research is to construct such models.

I am also interested in strongly correlated condensed matter systems which have no quasiparticle excitations.

Examples of research funding:

Current Grant: STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship 2017-2022, ST/P004334/1

Publications

My list of publications:

Complete list of publications on inspirehep

 

 

    Supervision

    Current Students:

    Lewis Sword (2020-)

    Public Engagement

     

    A short video about my research area

    Grants

    STFC, Ernest Rutherford Fellowship, ST/P004334/1, 1/10/2017-30/09/2022 (no-cost extension until Sept 2023) £424,924

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