The MIT Center for Theoretical Physics (CTP) is the hub of theoretical nuclear physics, particle physics, and quantum information research at MIT. It is a subdivision of

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Laboratory for Nuclear Science and

Department of Physics Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Research

CTP activities range from string theory and cosmology at the highest energies down through unification and beyond-the-standard-model physics, through the standard model, to QCD, hadrons, quark matter, and nuclei at the low energy scale. Members of the CTP are also currently working on quantum computation and on energy policy. The breadth and depth of research in nuclear, particle, string, and gravitational physics at the CTP makes it a unique environment for researchers in these fields.

Members

In addition to the 15 MIT faculty members working in the CTP, at any one time there are roughly a dozen postdoctoral fellows, and as many, or more, long-term visitors working at the postdoctoral or faculty level. The CTP supports 25-35 MIT graduate students, who work with the faculty and postdocs on problems across the energy spectrum. Current research areas in the center include

particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...

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 ...

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

in and

beyond Beyond may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Beyond'' (1921 film), an American silent film * ''Beyond'' (2000 film), a Danish film directed by Åke Sandgren, OT: ''Dykkerne'' * ''Beyond'' (2010 film), a Swedish film directed b ...

the

standard model The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetism, electromagnetic, weak interaction, weak and strong interactions - excluding gravity) in the universe and classifying a ...

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 ...

lattice QCD Lattice QCD is a well-established non-perturbative approach to solving the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) theory of quarks and gluons. It is a lattice gauge theory formulated on a grid or lattice of points in space and time. When the size of the ...

condensed matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the sub ...

quantum computing Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though ...

, and

energy research Energy development is the field of activities focused on obtaining sources of energy from natural resources. These activities include production of renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel derived sources of energy, and for the recovery and reus ...

. Notable current faculty include Nobel Laureate

Frank Wilczek Frank Anthony Wilczek (; born May 15, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate. He is currently the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Direc ...

Jeffrey Goldstone Jeffrey Goldstone (born 3 September 1933) is a British theoretical physicist and an ''emeritus'' physics faculty member at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. He worked at the University of Cambridge until 1977. He is famous for the discove ...

, inflationary cosmologist

Alan Guth Alan Harvey Guth (; born February 27, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist. Guth has researched elementary particle theory (and how particle theory is applicable to the early universe). He is Victor Weisskopf Professor of ...

, cosmologist

Max Tegmark Max Erik Tegmark (born 5 May 1967) is a Swedish-American physicist, cosmologist and machine learning researcher. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the president of the Future of Life Institute. He is also a scienti ...

, and quantum information scientist

Peter Shor Peter Williston Shor (born August 14, 1959) is an American professor of applied mathematics at MIT. He is known for his work on quantum computation, in particular for devising Shor's algorithm, a quantum algorithm for factoring exponentially fa ...

. Past CTP faculty members include US

Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...

Ernest Moniz Ernest Jeffrey Moniz, GCIH (; born December 22, 1944) is an American nuclear physicist and former government official. From May 2013 to January 2017, he served as the 13th United States secretary of Energy in the Obama Administration. Prior to ...

, Breakthrough Prize winner Daniel Freedman, particle theorist and author

Lisa Randall Lisa Randall (born June 18, 1962) is an American theoretical physicist working in particle physics and cosmology. She is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science on the physics faculty of Harvard University. Her research includes the funda ...

, Abel Prize winner

Isadore Singer Isadore Manuel Singer (May 3, 1924 – February 11, 2021) was an American mathematician. He was an Emeritus Institute Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Professor Emeritus of Mathemat ...

, Nobel Laureate

Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interactio ...

, and many others.

Directors

Herman Feshbach Herman Feshbach (February 2, 1917, in New York City – 22 December 2000, in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American physicist. He was an Institute Professor Emeritus of physics at MIT. Feshbach is best known for Feshbach resonance and for wr ...

, 1967–73 * Francis Low, 1973–76 * Arthur Kerman, 1976–83 *

, 1983–89 * John Negele, 1989–98 *

Robert Jaffe Robert Loren Jaffe (born May 23, 1946) is an American physicist and the Jane and Otto Morningstar Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was formerly director of the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. Biograp ...

, 1998–2004 * Eddie Farhi, 2004–16 * Washington Taylor IV, 2016–19 * Iain Stewart, 2019–present

Faculty

Current and former faculty members in the CTP include: * Michel Baranger, student of Hans Bethe, made contributions to plasma spectroscopy, nuclear collective motion, and quantum chaos * Netta Engelhardt, 2021

New Horizons in Physics Prize The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is one of the Breakthrough Prizes, awarded by the Breakthrough Prize Board. Initially named Fundamental Physics Prize, it was founded in July 2012 by Russia-born Israeli entrepreneur, venture cap ...

recipient for work on black holes *

Edward Farhi Edward Farhi is physicist working on quantum computation as a Principal Scientist at Google. In 2018 he retired from his position as the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was the Director of ...

, particle-physicist turned quantum information theorist *

, founding director of the CTP * Daniel Freedman,

Breakthrough Prize The Breakthrough Prizes are a set of international awards bestowed in three categories by the Breakthrough Prize Board in recognition of scientific advances. The awards are part of several "Breakthrough" initiatives founded and funded by Yuri Mi ...

winner *

Sergio Fubini Sergio Fubini (December 31, 1928 – January 6, 2005) was an Italian theoretical physicist. He was one of the pioneers of string theory. He was engaged in peace activism in the Middle East. Biography Fubini was born in Turin. In 1938, he fled t ...

, pioneer of string theory * Roscoe Giles, computer engineer and theoretical physicist; first African-American to earn a theoretical physics Ph.D. from

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, namesake of

Goldstone boson In particle and condensed matter physics, Goldstone bosons or Nambu–Goldstone bosons (NGBs) are bosons that appear necessarily in models exhibiting spontaneous breakdown of continuous symmetries. They were discovered by Yoichiro Nambu in par ...

s *

, discoverer of inflation * Daniel Harlow, 2019 New Horizons in Physics Prize recipient for contributions to "quantum information, quantum field theory, and gravity" *

Aram Harrow Aram Wettroth Harrow (born 1980) is a professor of physics in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Theoretical Physics. Harrow works in quantum information science and quantum computing. Together with Avinatan Hassidim and Se ...

, quantum information scientist *

Kerson Huang Kerson Huang (; 15 March 1928 – 1 September 2016) was a Chinese American theoretical physicist and translator. Huang was born in Nanning, China and grew up in Manila, Philippines. He earned a B.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts ...

, known for contributions to statistical physics and quantum field theory alongside

C. N. Yang Yang Chen-Ning or Chen-Ning Yang (; born 1 October 1922), also known as C. N. Yang or by the English name Frank Yang, is a Chinese Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to statistical mechanics, integrab ...

, T. D. Lee, and

Roman Jackiw Roman Wladimir Jackiw (; born 8 November 1939) is a theoretical physicist and Dirac Medallist. Born in Lubliniec, Poland in 1939 to a Ukrainian family, the family later moved to Austria and Germany before settling in New York City when Jackiw w ...

, of the Jackiw-Teitelboim model of 2d gravity *

, CTP director, known for

MIT Bag Model The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Xiangdong Ji Xiangdong Ji (; born 1962) is a Chinese theoretical nuclear and elementary particle physicist. Xiangdong Ji received his bachelor's degree from Tongji University in 1982 and his PhD from Drexel University in 1987. He was a postdoctoral research ...

, recipient of Herman Feshbach Prize in nuclear physics * Kenneth Johnson, famous for fundamental contributions to quantum field theory and quark substructure *

David Kaiser David I. Kaiser is an American physicist and historian of science. He is Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), head of its Science, Technology, and Society program, and a full profess ...

, cosmologist and historian of science * Francis Low, CTP director, Manhattan project alumnus and co-founder of

Union of Concerned Scientists The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a nonprofit science advocacy organization based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. Anne Kapuscinski, Professor of Environmenta ...

Samir Mathur Samir Dayal Mathur is a theoretical physicist who specializes in string theory and black hole physics. Mathur is a professor in the Department of Physics at Ohio State University and a member of the University's High Energy Theory Group. He was a ...

, string theorist and architect of " fuzzball" program for understanding black hole microstates *

, former U.S. Secretary of Energy * John Negele, CTP director, nuclear physicist *

, particle physicist, cosmologist, and popular physics author; first female professor in the CTP *

, quantum information scientist known for

Shor's algorithm Shor's algorithm is a quantum algorithm, quantum computer algorithm for finding the prime factors of an integer. It was developed in 1994 by the American mathematician Peter Shor. On a quantum computer, to factor an integer N , Shor's algorithm ...

, winner of the

Abel Prize The Abel Prize ( ; no, Abelprisen ) is awarded annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. It is named after the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) and directly modeled after the Nobel Prizes. ...

* Tracy Slatyer, known for Fermi bubbles; second tenured female professor in the CTP *

, notable cosmologist and popular physics author * Jesse Thaler, Director of NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Fundamental Interactions * Charles Thorn, noted string theorist *

Gabriele Veneziano Gabriele Veneziano (; ; born 7 September 1942) is an Italian theoretical physicist widely considered the father of string theory. He has conducted most of his scientific activities at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, and held the Chair of Elementa ...

, pioneer of string theory *

Felix Villars Felix Villars (; 6 January 1921 – 27 April 2002) was a Swiss people, Swiss-born Americans, American emeritus professor of physics at MIT. He is best known for the Pauli–Villars regularization, an important principle in quantum field theory. ...

, of Pauli-Villars regularization method in quantum field theory *

, Nobel Laureate *

Victor Weisskopf Victor Frederick "Viki" Weisskopf (also spelled Viktor; September 19, 1908 – April 22, 2002) was an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist. He did postdoctoral work with Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli, and Niels Boh ...

, former MIT physics department chair *

, Nobel Laureate known for

asymptotic freedom In quantum field theory, asymptotic freedom is a property of some gauge theories that causes interactions between particles to become asymptotically weaker as the energy scale increases and the corresponding length scale decreases. Asymptotic fre ...

and

axion An axion () is a hypothetical elementary particle postulated by the Peccei–Quinn theory in 1977 to resolve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). If axions exist and have low mass within a specific range, they are of interes ...

s * James Young, notable nuclear physicist; founding member of

National Society of Black Physicists The National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), established in the United States in 1977, is a non-profit professional organization with the goal to promote the professional well-being of African Diaspora physicists and physics students within the ...

; first tenured black professor in the MIT Physics Department *

Barton Zwiebach Barton Zwiebach (born ''Barton Zwiebach Cantor'', October 4, 1954) is a Peruvian string theorist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Work Zwiebach's undergraduate work was in Electrical Engineering at the Universidad N ...

, Peruvian string theorist, made central contributions to

string field theory String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Strings (1991 film), ''Strings'' (1991 fi ...

References

External links

MIT CTP website
* List of MIT Center for Theoretical Physics faculty * List of MIT Center for Theoretical Physics alumni {{authority control Center for Theoretical Physics Theoretical physics institutes