Jan Christoph Plefka (born 31 January 1968 in

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

) is a German theoretical physicist working in the field of

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...

and

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interac ...

Education

After receiving the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

and performing civil service in a hospital, Plefka studied physics at the Technical University of Darmstadt and

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

where he received his M.Sc. as a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

. He received his PhD from the

Leibniz University Hannover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...

with a dissertation on

supersymmetric In a supersymmetric theory the equations for force and the equations for matter are identical. In theoretical and mathematical physics, any theory with this property has the principle of supersymmetry (SUSY). Dozens of supersymmetric theories ...

Matrix Models in 1995. In 2003 he received the

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

at the Humboldt University Berlin.

Career

After postdoctoral work at the City College New York and Nikhef Amsterdam, he became a Junior Staff Member at the Albert Einstein Institute, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in 1998. In 2006, Plefka was awarded a Lichtenberg Professorship of the Volkswagen Foundation in

quantum field In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...

and

at the Institute of Physics at Humboldt University Berlin, becoming Full Professor there in 2011. In 2014 he held a Visiting Professorship at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

. His research focuses on theoretical high energy and gravitational physics, in particular the

AdS/CFT correspondence 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 s ...

and hidden symmetries in

. His most influential work is the discovery of a hidden Yangian symmetry of scattering amplitudes in N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory together with Drummond and

Henn Henn is a both a surname and an Estonian masculine given name. Notable people with the surname include: ;As a given name: * Henn-Ants Kurg (1898–1943), Estonian military colonel and diplomat * Henn Pärn (born 1941), Estonian politician * ...

. He has co-authored a text book on

scattering amplitude In quantum physics, the scattering amplitude is the probability amplitude of the outgoing spherical wave relative to the incoming plane wave in a stationary-state scattering process.gauge theories which is the first topical book on modern on-shell techniques for scattering amplitudes.

References

Selected further publications

* *

External links

Interview
in journa
HU-WISSEN Edition 6
December 2013 jointly with

Matthias Staudacher Matthias Staudacher born 11th January of 1963 is a German theoretical physicist who has done significant work in the area of quantum field theory and string theory. Education Beginning his physics studies at the University of Heidelberg and at Lu ...

.
Jan Plefka
at Humboldt University
Interview
on PodCampus HU 21st-century German physicists Living people Texas A&M University alumni Theoretical physicists 1968 births Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni Studienstiftung alumni {{Germany-physicist-stub