Mathematical physics

String theory has so far failed to live up to its promise as a way to unite gravity and quantum mechanics. At the same time, it has blossomed into one of the most useful sets of tools in science.

Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as he pursues a new vision of the laws of nature.

A 115-year effort to bridge the particle and fluid descriptions of nature has led mathematicians to an unexpected answer.

Researchers are on the trail of a mysterious connection between number theory, algebra and string theory.

A potent theory has emerged explaining a mysterious statistical law that arises throughout physics and mathematics.

Martin Hairer was named a 2014 Fields medalist for an epic masterpiece in stochastic analysis that colleagues say “created a whole world.”

A conversation with the mathematical physicist Freeman Dyson on quantum electrodynamics, climate change and his latest pet project.

Physicists have discovered a jewel-shaped geometric object that challenges the notion that space and time are fundamental constituents of nature.