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Shamit Kachru
Professor of Physics and Director, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Emeritus
Department:
Physics
Ph.D., Princeton University, Physics (1994)
A.B., Harvard University, Physics (1990)
Effective 9/1/23, I became Professor of Physics and Director, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Emeritus. I am now working with PDT Partners (a quantitative hedge fund). My research is focused on the modeling challenges, real-time dynamics, and rapid feedback processes that arise in understanding and trading liquid global financial markets. More generally, I am interested in the application of quantitative methods to complex adaptive systems across science, technology, and economic systems.
My previous research interests included diverse topics in theoretical physics, ranging from string theory and quantum gravity to cosmology, condensed matter theory and biophysics. Highlights of my past research include:
- The discovery of string dualities with 4d N=2 supersymmetry, and their use to find exact solutions of gauge theories (with Cumrun Vafa)
- The construction of the first examples of AdS/CFT duality with reduced supersymmetry (with Eva Silverstein)
- Foundational papers on string compactification in the presence of background fluxes (with Steve Giddings and Joe Polchinski)
- Basic models of cosmic acceleration in string theory (with Renata Kallosh, Andrei Linde, and Sandip Trivedi)
- First computation of the non-Gaussianity in general single field inflation (with Xingang Chen, Min-xin Huang, and Gary Shiu)
- Developing the framework underlying holography for non-relativistic field theories, relevant for modeling quantum matter at finite density (with Xiao Liu and Michael Mulligan)
- Simple and tractable models of non-Fermi liquids (with Liam Fitzpatrick, Jared Kaplan, and Sri Raghu)
- Studies of adaptive trade-offs in evolutionary dynamics of organisms exposed to a varying environment (with Daniel Fisher and Mikhail Tikhonov)
- Developing a new approach — using string duality — to find precise expressions for Ricci flat metrics on K3 surfaces (with Arnav Tripathy and Max Zimet)
For details about my former students, please see the “Research and Scholarship” link in my full Stanford profile.
My previous research interests included diverse topics in theoretical physics, ranging from string theory and quantum gravity to cosmology, condensed matter theory and biophysics. Highlights of my past research include:
- The discovery of string dualities with 4d N=2 supersymmetry, and their use to find exact solutions of gauge theories (with Cumrun Vafa)
- The construction of the first examples of AdS/CFT duality with reduced supersymmetry (with Eva Silverstein)
- Foundational papers on string compactification in the presence of background fluxes (with Steve Giddings and Joe Polchinski)
- Basic models of cosmic acceleration in string theory (with Renata Kallosh, Andrei Linde, and Sandip Trivedi)
- First computation of the non-Gaussianity in general single field inflation (with Xingang Chen, Min-xin Huang, and Gary Shiu)
- Developing the framework underlying holography for non-relativistic field theories, relevant for modeling quantum matter at finite density (with Xiao Liu and Michael Mulligan)
- Simple and tractable models of non-Fermi liquids (with Liam Fitzpatrick, Jared Kaplan, and Sri Raghu)
- Studies of adaptive trade-offs in evolutionary dynamics of organisms exposed to a varying environment (with Daniel Fisher and Mikhail Tikhonov)
- Developing a new approach — using string duality — to find precise expressions for Ricci flat metrics on K3 surfaces (with Arnav Tripathy and Max Zimet)
For details about my former students, please see the “Research and Scholarship” link in my full Stanford profile.
Publications
2008
Kachru, S., Liu, X., & Mulligan, M. (2008). Gravity duals of Lifshitz-like fixed points. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 78(10).
2007
Chen, X., Huang, M.-xin, Kachru, S., & Shiu, G. (2007). Observational signatures and non-Gaussianities of general single-field inflation. JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS, (1).
de Sitter vacua in string theory on 2003
2003
Kachru, S., Kallosh, R., Linde, A., & Trivedi, S. P. (2003). de Sitter vacua in string theory. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 68(4).
2003
Kachru, S., Kallosh, R., Linde, A., Maldacena, J., McAllister, L., & Trivedi, S. P. (2003). Towards inflation in string theory. JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS, (10).
2002
Giddings, S. B., Kachru, S., & Polchinski, J. (2002). Hierarchies from fluxes in string compactifications. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 66(10).
1998
Kachru, S., & Silverstein, E. (1998). 4D conformal field theories and strings on orbifolds. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 80(22), 4855–4858.
Non-perturbative results on the point particle limit of N=2 heterotic string compactifications on 1996
1996
Kachru, S., Klemm, A., Lerche, W., Mayr, P., & Vafa, C. (1996). Non-perturbative results on the point particle limit of N=2 heterotic string compactifications. NUCLEAR PHYSICS B, 459(3), 537–555.
1995
Kachru, S., & Vafa, C. (1995). EXACT RESULTS FOR N=2 COMPACTIFICATIONS OF HETEROTIC STRINGS. NUCLEAR PHYSICS B, 450(1-2), 69–89.