João Miguel Augusto Penedones Fernandes (born in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, Portugal) is a Portuguese

theoretical physicist 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 ...

active in the area of

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...

. He is currently an associate professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

Career

João Penedones studied

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

at the

University of Porto The University of Porto (''Universidade do Porto'') is a Portuguese public research university located in Porto, and founded on 22 March 1911. It is the second largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students, after the University ...

, where he obtained his undergraduate degree in 2002. He then obtained a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mathematics from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 2003. In 2007, he got his PhD from the University of Porto, working in the field of

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 intera ...

under the supervision of Miguel Costa. He then performed postdoctoral work at the

Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara dedicated to theoretical physics. KITP is one of 20 Kavli Foundation (United_States)#The Kavli Institutes, Kavli Institutes ...

(

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

) from 2008 to 2010 and at the

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI, Perimeter, PITP) is an independent research centre in foundational theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1999. The institute's founding and major benefactor i ...

in Waterloo,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

from 2010 to 2011. He then returned to the University of Porto to work as a research fellow until 2015, when he was named tenure track assistant professor at EPFL.

Research

João Penedones leads the Fields and Strings Laboratory at EPFL, focusing on questions related to

Quantum Field Theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...

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 intera ...

. One of their research objectives is to develop better non-perturbative methods to study quantum field theories using conformal and

S-matrix In physics, the ''S''-matrix or scattering matrix is a Matrix (mathematics), matrix that relates the initial state and the final state of a physical system undergoing a scattering, scattering process. It is used in quantum mechanics, scattering ...

bootstrap approaches. Another of their objectives is to explore the gauge/gravity duality to investigate questions related to

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 ...

. One of João Penedones' most important contributions is a conjecture about the conditions upon which a conformal field theory has a gravity dual, later proved by A. Liam Fitzpatrick and Jared Kaplan. Correlation functions of local operators living on the boundary of AdS are the natural analogues of scattering amplitudes. This connection is made more manifest once the correlation function is expressed in terms of Mellin amplitudes as suggested by Penedones.

References

Portuguese physicists Living people 1980 births {{Portugal-scientist-stub