The Project
Analyse D-branes in curved backgrounds.
Winner
Ilka Marie-Louise Brunner
ETH Zurich
Institut fur Theoretische Physik
Zurich, Switzerland
www.itp.phys.ethz.ch
Following graduation from the University of Bonn in 1995 with an M.Sc in physics, dual German/US citizen Ilka Brunner, 34 years old, went on to earn a Ph.D with distinction from the Humboldt University, Berlin, in 1998 for her thesis on the interplay between quantum field theory and string theory. Among her honours and awards are the Lise Meitner Prize from the Humboldt University in 1999 for the best Ph.D in physics. Currently Ilka Brunner is a postdoc at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Zurich, Switzerland.
Award
€845,147
Project Description
String theory(*) is currently the most promising candidate for a unifying framework to describe the standard model of particle physics as well as general relativity. The basic idea is to replace the concept of a point particle by a one-dimensional extended object, the string. The advent of D-branes(**) has revolutionized our understanding of string theory and, in particular, opened the way to analyze non-perturbative questions.
So far, much of the work on D-branes has concerned D-branes in flat background geometrics. In order to understand in more detail how string theory reconciles particle physics with the theory of gravity (general relativity) where curved backgrounds appear naturally, it is important to study the theory in such backgrounds as well.
One of the lessons that has been learned in recent years is that the geometry that is perceived by the string does not simply agree with the native classical geometry. So it is important to understand the nature of this quantum geometry more precisely. In this context D-branes play an important role as they can be used to probe the background geometry from a string point of view.
This project will analyse D-branes in various curved backgrounds and compare their string description with the classical geometry of the relevant target space. A particular interest is in D-branes on so-called Calabi-Yau manifolds. These play a prominent role in phenomenological applications of string theory aimed at getting insight into particle physics by studying string models and more abstract geometrical questions which lie at the interface between mathematics and physics.
(*) Definition - String Theory:
String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects (strings) rather than the zero-dimensional points (particles) that are the basis of the Standard Model of particle physics. (Source: Wikipedia)
(**) Definition - D-branes:
D-branes play a prominent role in modern string theory. They are higher dimensional generalizations of (two dimensional) mem-branes. In particular, in theories involving open strings one needs to impose boundary conditions at the string endpoints. These boundary conditions are provided by D-branes: They can be imagined as loci in space-times on which the open strings are allowed to end. (Source: Ilka Brunner)
