theoretical physics

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.

Cora Dvorkin discovered new possibilities for what dark matter could be. Now she’s devising unorthodox ways to identify it.

In a landmark series of calculations, physicists have proved that black holes can shed information.

We’ve created a new way to explore the fundamental constituents of the universe.

Our new series of articles explores the search for fundamental structure at the edge of science.

Researchers have shown how to effectively transform one material into another using a finely shaped laser pulse.

It was an old idea of Stephen Hawking’s: Unseen “primordial” black holes might be the hidden dark matter. A new series of studies has shown how the theory can work.

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

Physicists have identified an algebraic structure underlying the messy mathematics of particle collisions. Some hope it will lead to a more elegant theory of the natural world.