Mathematicians have struggled to understand the moduli space of graphs. A new paper uses tools from physics to peek inside. “That’s a super hard problem. It’s amazing they were able to,” said Dan ...

Condensed matter physics, through the discoveries of graphene and topological insulators say, realizes in the laboratory many exotic and non-perturbative phenomena that were proposed during the 70's ...

Quantum field theory marries the ideas of other quantum theories to depict all particles as “excitations” that arise in underlying fields. The British physicist Paul Dirac started the ball rolling in ...

How do you calculate infinite quantum outcomes? Feynman Diagrams. The equations of quantum field theory allow us to calculate the behaviour of subatomic particles by expressing them as vibrations in ...

Edward Witten reflects on the meaning of dualities in physics and math, emergent space-time, and the pursuit of a complete description of nature. Among the brilliant theorists cloistered in the quiet ...

The recent confirmation of gravity waves observed by the LIGO project represents a huge breakthrough in physics, verifying Albert Einstein's predictions regarding the effect of mass on space and time ...

Mean-field theory and semiclassical methods constitute vital frameworks in contemporary quantum mechanics. By replacing the intricate web of particle interactions with an average or “mean” field, mean ...

Scientists propose a link between string field theory and quantum mechanics that could open the door to using string field theory as the basis of all physics. Their calculations "could solve the ...

At long last, a unified theory combining gravity with the other fundamental forces—electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces—is within reach. Bringing gravity into the fold has been the ...

Quantum mechanics is perhaps the most unintuitive theory ever devised. And yet it’s also the most successful, in terms of sheer predictive power. Simply by following the math of quantum mechanics, ...