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Mathematical physics

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Mathematicians Prove 2D Version of Quantum Gravity Really Works

June 17, 2021

In three towering papers, a team of mathematicians has worked out the details of Liouville quantum field theory, a two-dimensional model of quantum gravity.

The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve

June 10, 2021

The accelerating effort to understand the mathematics of quantum field theory will have profound consequences for both math and physics.

Mathematicians Identify Threshold at Which Shapes Give Way

June 3, 2021

A new proof establishes the boundary at which a shape becomes so corrugated, it can be crushed.

New Black Hole Math Closes Cosmic Blind Spot

May 13, 2021

A mathematical shortcut for analyzing black hole collisions works even in cases where it shouldn’t. As astronomers use it to search for new classes of hidden black holes, others wonder: Why?

Isadore Singer Transcended Mathematical Boundaries

March 4, 2021

A former graduate student reflects on how Isadore Singer, who died on February 11, brought together mathematicians, physicists and anyone else interested in the deeper connections between diverse fields.

A Mathematician’s Unanticipated Journey Through the Physical World

December 16, 2020

Lauren Williams has charted an adventurous mathematical career out of the pieces of a fundamental object called the positive Grassmannian.

Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology

November 19, 2020

An exercise in pure mathematics has led to a wide-ranging theory of how the world comes together.

What Is a Particle?

November 12, 2020

It has been thought of as many things: a pointlike object, an excitation of a field, a speck of pure math that has cut into reality. But never has physicists’ conception of a particle changed more than it is changing now.

How Mathematical ‘Hocus-Pocus’ Saved Particle Physics

September 17, 2020

Renormalization has become perhaps the single most important advance in theoretical physics in 50 years.

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