Dr Costis Papageorgakis

Profile

I am a Reader in Theoretical Physics at the Centre for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy. My work has focussed on various aspects of supersymmetric/superconformal field theories and their relation to String/M-theory.

I hold an undergraduate diploma from the University of Patras (Greece), an MSc from Durham University and a PhD from Queen Mary University of London. I have previously held postdoctoral positions at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (India), King's College London and Rutgers University (USA). 

Teaching

I teach the MSc/MSci course "Differential Geometry in Theoretical Physics" (DGTP) and the undergraduate course "Quantum Mechanics and Symmetry", over the first and second semesters respectively of the 2023-2024 academic year.

I am a Fellow of Advance HE.

Research

Research Interests:

I am broadly interested in the study of D-brane and M-brane dynamics, in string and M-theory respectively, as well as the structure of their associated supersymmetric/superconformal gauge theories. In the past I have worked towards understanding multiple M2-branes in terms of superconformal Chern-Simons-matter theory in three dimensions, and multiple M5-branes through the superconformal (2,0) theory in six dimensions.

More recently I have investigated various aspects of superconformal field theories in diverse dimensions. A broad toolkit of approaches and techniques can be used to that effect, including the conformal bootstrap, the study of anomalies, superconformal indices and exact methods such as supersymmetric localisation. I have also researched the dynamics of solitons undergoing acceleration.

My current research focuses on the application of Machine Learning to conformal field theories. A summary of this work can be found on this page.

Examples of research funding:

• Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship (UKRI GF): “Holography and Quantum Black Holes”, C. Papageorgakis (PI), M. Hosseini (PDRA) 2024-2026 (£200,512) 
• STFC Consolidated Grant: "Amplitudes, Strings and Duality", A Brandhuber (PI), D Berman, M Buican, R Monteiro, C Papageorgakis, M Perry, S Ramgoolam, R Russo, B Spence, G Travaglini, D Vegh, C Wen, C White 2023-2026 (£1,477,965)
• STFC Consolidated Grant, "Amplitudes, Strings and Duality", A Brandhuber (PI), DS Berman, M Buican, MB Green, R Monteiro, C Papageorgakis, S Ramgoolam, R Russo, W Spence, G Travaglini, D Vegh and C White 2020-2023 (£890,210)
• Royal Society Research Fellows Enhancement Awards 2018-2021 (£202,394)
• Royal Society University Research Fellowship Renewal 2018-2021 (£372,630)
• Royal Society Research Fellows Enhancement Awards 2017-2021 (£96,838)
• STFC Consolidated Grant, String Theory, Gauge Theory and Duality, A Brandhuber (PI), DS Berman, C Papageorgakis, S Ramgoolam, R Russo, M Shigemori, G Travaglini and C White 2017-2020 (£693,833)
• Royal Society University Research Fellowship 2013 - 2018 (£451,098)

Publications

(A complete and up to date list of publications with an accurate citation count can also be found at this link)

Supervision

PhD students:

• Alexander Stapleton (jointly with D. Berman-PhD expected 2026)
• Mitchell Woolley (PhD expected 2026)
• Enrico Andriolo (PhD 2023)
• Gergely Kántor (PhD 2022)
• Joseph Hayling (PhD 2019)

I am also interested in taking on new students for the following project:

Conformal Field Theories are mathematical descriptions of natural phenomena that look the same at all length scales. They find fundamental applications over a large spectrum of topics ranging from condensed-matter physics, particle physics, string theory and quantum gravity. They are, however, incredibly hard to solve with the exception of a handful of examples.

This project aims to exploit the tremendous recent progress in Artificial Intelligence to solve arbitrary conformal field theories. This will be achieved by utilising machine-learning techniques similar to those used by Google’s DeepMind Technologies when building the AlphaGo programme, which spectacularly beat professional Go champions.

Requirements:

A very good grasp of graduate Quantum Field Theory and supersymmetry, as well as some basic conformal field theory and string theory. Coding experience is desirable.