• Physics Department 0319
  University of California, San Diego
  9500 Gilman Drive
  La Jolla, CA 92093


• Tel: (858) 822-1179


• Fax: (858) 534-0173


• email: keni @ ucsd.edu

My research is on quantum field theory and string theory, especially the exploration of novel aspects, phenomena, and interconnections of these theories at strong coupling. A list of my research publications can be found here. Some of the research topics are:

Topics include: properties of two dimensional conformal and superconformal theories, exact result for renormalization group flows, exact S-matrices, and a new kind of supersymmetric index. These results have applications to string theory, gaining general insights into strongly coupled quantum field theory, and perhaps condensed matter systems.

Exact, non-perturbative results (e.g. the superpotential and gauge kinetic terms) can be obtained for four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories. These give general insights into the rich variety of phenomena and phases which can occur in strongly coupled gauge theories, along with testing and extending the toolbox of calculational techniques for quantum field theories.

Quantum field theories and string theories can have more than one different description, with the basic degrees of freedom in one description arising as composite objects, e.g. solitons, in the dual description. Such dualities can exchange electric and magnetic objects, and strong coupling phenomena can have a weakly coupled dual description.

Gauge fields can arise non-perturbatively in string theory, via singularities in the space-time compactification geometry, or in the world-volume of D-branes. String constructions of gauge theories have been used to obtain new non-perturbative results and calculational methods for gauge theories, as well as new insights into string theory and its compactification geometries.