Shamit Kachru
Shamit Kachru
Professor of Physics and Director, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics
About
I am interested in a variety of problems in different fields: string theory and mathematical physics, condensed matter theory, and (a most recent addition) theoretical biology. My work in condensed matter has focused in recent years on developing toy models of non-Fermi liquid states of matter, and on dualities in 2+1 dimensional quantum field theory. I am a member of the Simons Collaboration on Ultra-Quantum Matter and anticipate active pursuit of a range of problems in physics of strongly correlated electrons, topological states, and so forth. In string theory and mathematical physics, my work has ranged over the years from studies of string duality to problems at the interface of string theory with theoretical cosmology. Recently I've thought quite a bit about mathematical aspects of string theory including new moonshines, enumerative geometry of BPS states, and general explorations of the connection of string theory to number theory. Last but certainly not least, I have recently developed an interest in theoretical biology, in particular in theoretical questions in evolutionary biology and eco-evolutionary dynamics that can be attacked with mathematical or computational techniques familiar to theoretical physicists.
It is hard to know what the future holds, but you can get some idea of what I work on by looking at my past. 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)
For details about my present and former students, please see the “Research and Scholarship” link in my full Stanford profile.
Academic Appointments
Professor, Physics
Past Appointments
Department Chair, Stanford Physics (2018 - Present)
Wells Family Director, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (2017 - Present)
Professor of Physics, Stanford University (1999 - Present)
KITP Member and Visiting Professor, UCSB (2009 - 2010)
Member, Institute for Advanced Study (1999 - 2000)
Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley (1997 - 1999)
Research Associate, Rutgers University (1996 - 1997)
Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows (1994 - 1996)
Honors & Awards
Simons Investigator Award, Simons Foundation (2017 -)
SQuaRE grant, "Moonshine and string theory", American Institute of Mathematics (2016-)
Plenary Speaker, International Congress of Mathematical Physics, International Association of Mathematical Physics (2015)
Distinguished Visiting Research Chair, Perimeter Institute (2014-)
Outstanding Young Investigator, ACIPA (2008)
Packard Fellow, David and Lucile Packard Foundation (2000-2005)
Begmann Memorial Award, Israeli Science Foundation (1999)
Sloan Fellow, Sloan Foundation (1998-2000)
Outstanding Junior Investigator, Department of Energy (1997-99)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
Scientific Advisory Committee, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Science (KITS), Beijing (2019 - Present)
Editorial Board, Research in Mathematical Sciences (2015 - Present)
Scientific Advisory Committee, Perimeter Institute (2015 - 2019)
Advisory Board, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP), Santa Barbara (2014 - 2017)
External Organizer, ICTP Spring School (2007 - 2010)
Member, Aspen Center for Physics (2006 - 2015)
Editor, JHEP (2004 - Present)
External Organizer, TASI 1999, 2005, 2007 (1999 - 2007)
Professional Education
Ph.D., Princeton University, Physics (1994)
A.B., Harvard University, Physics (1990)
Publications
Kachru, S., Liu, X., & Mulligan, M. (2008). Gravity duals of Lifshitz-like fixed points. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 78(10).
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).
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).
Kachru, S., Kallosh, R., Linde, A., & Trivedi, S. P. (2003). de Sitter vacua in string theory. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 68(4).
Giddings, S. B., Kachru, S., & Polchinski, J. (2002). Hierarchies from fluxes in string compactifications. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 66(10).
Kachru, S., & Silverstein, E. (1998). 4D conformal field theories and strings on orbifolds. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 80(22), 4855–4858.
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.
Kachru, S., & Vafa, C. (1995). EXACT RESULTS FOR N=2 COMPACTIFICATIONS OF HETEROTIC STRINGS. NUCLEAR PHYSICS B, 450(1-2), 69–89.
Benjamin, N., Kachru, S., & Tripathy, A. (2017). Counting spinning dyons in maximal supergravity: The Hodge-elliptic genus for tori. Letters in Mathematical Physics, 107(11).
Kachru, S., Mulligan, M., Torroba, G., & Wang, H. (2016). Bosonization and mirror symmetry. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 94(8).
Benjamin, N., Cheng, M. C. N., Kachru, S., Moore, G. W., & Paquette, N. M. (2016). Elliptic Genera and 3d Gravity. ANNALES HENRI POINCARE, 17(10), 2623–62.
Benjamin, N., Harrison, S. M., Kachru, S., Paquette, N. M., & Whalen, D. (2016). On the Elliptic Genera of Manifolds of Spin(7) Holonomy. ANNALES HENRI POINCARE, 17(10), 2663–97.
Benjamin, N., Dyer, E., Fitzpatrick, A. L., & Kachru, S. (2016). Universal bounds on charged states in 2d CFT and 3d gravity. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (8).
Benjamin, N., Kachru, S., Keller, C. A., & Paquette, N. M. (2016). Emergent space-time and the supersymmetric index. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (5).
Benjamin, N., Dyer, E., Fitzpatrick, A. L., & Kachru, S. (2015). An extremal N=2 superconformal field theory. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS A-MATHEMATICAL AND THEORETICAL, 48(49).
Kachru, S., Mulligan, M., Torroba, G., & Wang, H. (2015). Mirror symmetry and the half-filled Landau level. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 92(23).
Fitzpatrick, A. L., Kachru, S., Kaplan, J., Raghu, S., Torroba, G., & Wang, H. (2015). Enhanced pairing of quantum critical metals near d=3+1. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 92(4).
Hook, A., Kachru, S., Torroba, G., & Wang, H. (2014). Emergent Fermi surfaces, fractionalization and duality in supersymmetric QED. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (8).
Fitzpatrick, A. L., Kachru, S., Kaplan, J., & Raghu, S. (2014). Non-Fermi-liquid behavior of large-N-B quantum critical metals. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 89(16).
Harrison, S., Kachru, S., & Paquette, N. M. (2014). Twining genera of (0,4) supersymmetric sigma models on K3. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (4).
Kachru, S., Kundu, N., Saha, A., Samanta, R., & Trivedi, S. P. (2014). Interpolating from Bianchi attractors to Lifshitz and AdS spacetimes. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (3).
Harrison, S., Kachru, S., & Wang, H. (2014). Resolving Lifshitz horizons. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (2).
Graham, P. W., Horn, B., Kachru, S., Rajendran, S., & Torroba, G. (2014). A simple harmonic universe. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (2).
Hook, A., Kachru, S., & Torroba, G. (2013). Supersymmetric defect models and mirror symmetry. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (11).
Fitzpatrick, A. L., Kachru, S., Kaplan, J., & Raghu, S. (2013). Non-Fermi-liquid fixed point in a Wilsonian theory of quantum critical metals. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 88(12).
Mahajan, R., Ramirez, D. M., Kachru, S., & Raghu, S. (2013). Quantum critical metals in d=3+1 dimensions. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 88(11).
Cheng, M. C. N., Dong, X., Duncan, J. F. R., Harvey, J. A., Kachru, S., & Wrase, T. (2013). Mathieu moonshine and N=2 string compactifications. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (9).
Bao, N., Harrison, S., Kachru, S., & Sachdev, S. (2013). Vortex lattices and crystalline geometries. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 88(2).
Iizuka, N., Kachru, S., Kundu, N., Narayan, P., Sircar, N., Trivedi, S. P., & Wang, H. (2013). Extremal horizons with reduced symmetry: hyperscaling violation, stripes, and a classification for the homogeneous case. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (3).
Harrison, S., Kachru, S., & Torroba, G. (2012). A maximally supersymmetric Kondo model. CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM GRAVITY, 29(19).
Iizuka, N., Kachru, S., Kundu, N., Narayan, P., Sircar, N., & Trivedi, S. P. (2012). Bianchi attractors: a classification of extremal black brane geometries. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (7).
Dong, X., Harrison, S., Kachru, S., Torroba, G., & Wang, H. (2012). Aspects of holography for theories with hyperscaling violation. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (6).
Jensen, K., Kachru, S., Karch, A., Polchinski, J., & Silverstein, E. (2011). Towards a holographic marginal Fermi liquid. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 84(12).
Mulligan, M., Nayak, C., & Kachru, S. (2011). Effective field theory of fractional quantized Hall nematics. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 84(19).
Kachru, S., Kallosh, R., & Shmakova, M. (2011). Generalized attractor points in gauged supergravity. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 84(4).
Kachru, S., Karch, A., & Yaida, S. (2011). Adventures in holographic dimer models. NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS, 13.
Goldstein, K., Iizuka, N., Kachru, S., Prakash, S., Trivedi, S. P., & Westphal, A. (2010). Holography of dyonic dilaton black branes. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (10).
Mulligan, M., Nayak, C., & Kachru, S. (2010). Isotropic to anisotropic transition in a fractional quantum Hall state. PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 82(8).
Baumann, D., Dymarsky, A., Kachru, S., Klebanov, I. R., & McAllister, L. (2010). Effects of Compactification in D-brane Inflation. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 104(25).
Baumann, D., Dymarsky, A., Kachru, S., Klebanov, I. R., & McAllister, L. (2010). D3-brane potentials from fluxes in AdS/CFT. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (6).
He, T., Kachru, S., & Westphal, A. (2010). Gravity waves and the LHC: towards high-scale inflation with low-energy SUSY. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (6).
Franco, S., & Kachru, S. (2010). Single-sector supersymmetry breaking in supersymmetric QCD. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 81(9).
Kachru, S., Simic, D., & Trivedi, S. P. (2010). Stable non-supersymmetric throats in string theory. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (5).
Craig, N., Essig, R., Franco, S., Kachru, S., & Torroba, G. (2010). Dynamical supersymmetry breaking, with flavor. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 81(7).
Kachru, S., Karch, A., & Yaida, S. (2010). Holographic lattices, dimers, and glasses. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 81(2).
Benini, F., Dymarsky, A., Franco, S., Kachru, S., Simic, D., & Verlinde, H. (2009). Holographic gauge mediation. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (12).
Baumann, D., Dymarsky, A., Kachru, S., Klebanov, I. R., & McAllister, L. (2009). Holographic systematics of D-brane inflation. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (3).
Baumann, D., Jackson, M. G., Adshead, P., Amblard, A., Ashoorioon, A., Bartolo, N., … Zaldarriaga, M. (2009). Probing Inflation with CMB Polarization. Presented at the CMB Polarization Workshop, BATAVIA,IL,IL: AMER INST PHYSICS.
Blumenhagen, R., Cvetic, M., Kachru, S., & Weigand, T. (2009). D-Brane Instantons in Type II Orientifolds. ANNUAL REVIEW OF NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE SCIENCE, 59, 269–96.
Dimopoulos, S., Kachru, S., McGreevy, J., & Wacker, J. G. (2008). N-flation. JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS, (8).
Aganagic, M., Beem, C., & Kachru, S. (2008). Geometric transitions and dynamical SUSY breaking. NUCLEAR PHYSICS B, 796(1-2), 1–24.
DeWolfe, O., Kachru, S., & Mulligan, M. (2008). Gravity dual of metastable dynamical supersymmetry breaking. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 77(6).
Argurio, R., Bertolini, M., Franco, S., & Kachru, S. (2008). Meta-stable vacua and d-branes at the conifold. TEN YEARS OF ADS/CFT, 1031, 94-?
Aharony, O., Kachru, S., & Silverstein, E. (2007). Simple stringy dynamical supersymmetry breaking. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 76(12).
Hertzberg, M. P., Kachru, S., Taylor, W., & Tegmark, M. (2007). Inflationary constraints on type IIA string theory. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (12).
Hertzberg, M. P., Tegmark, M., Kachru, S., Shelton, J., & Oezcan, O. (2007). Searching for inflation in simple string theory models: An astrophysical perspective. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 76(10).
Kachru, S., McAllister, L., & Sundrum, R. (2007). Sequestering in string theory. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (10).
Chuang, W.-yen, Kachru, S., & Tomasiello, A. (2007). Complex/symplectic mirrors. COMMUNICATIONS IN MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS, 274(3), 775–94.
Aharony, O., & Kachru, S. (2007). Stringy instantons and cascading quivers. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (9).
Argurio, R., Bertolini, M., Franco, S., & Kachru, S. (2007). Metastable vacua and D-branes at the conifold. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (6).
Florea, B., Kachru, S., McGreevy, J., & Saulina, N. (2007). Stringy instantons and quiver gauge theories. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (5).
Argurio, R., Bertolini, M., Franco, S., & Kachru, S. (2007). Metastable supersymmetry breaking and gauge/gravity duality. FORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK-PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, 55(5-7), 644–48.
Douglas, M. R., & Kachru, S. (2007). Flux compactification. REVIEWS OF MODERN PHYSICS, 79(2), 733–96.
Argurio, R., Bertolini, M., Franco, S., & Kachru, S. (2007). Gauge/gravity duality and meta-stable dynamical supersymmetry breaking. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (1).
Denef, F., Douglas, M. R., & Kachru, S. (2007). Physics of string flux compactifications. ANNUAL REVIEW OF NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE SCIENCE, 57, 119–44.
Kachru, S., McGreevy, J., & Svrcek, P. (2006). Bounds on masses of bulk fields in string compactifications. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (4).
Diaconescu, E., Florea, B., Kachru, S., & Svrcek, P. (2006). Gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking in string compactifications. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (2).
Denef, F., Douglas, M. R., Florea, B., Grassi, A., & Kachru, S. (2005). Fixing all moduli in a simple F-theory compactification. ADVANCES IN THEORETICAL AND MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS, 9(6), 861–929.
DeWolfe, O., Giryavets, A., Kachru, S., & Taylor, W. (2005). Type IIA moduli stabilization. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (7).
Kachru, S., & Kashani-Poor, A. K. (2005). Moduli potentials in type-IIA compactifications with RR and NS flux. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (3).
DeWolfe, O., Giryavets, A., Kachru, S., & Taylor, W. (2005). Enumerating flux vacua with enhanced symmetries. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (2).
Gorlich, L., Tripathy, P. K., Trivedi, S. P., & Kachru, S. (2004). Gaugino condensation and nonperturbative superpotentials in flux compactifications. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (12).
Giryavets, A., Kachru, S., & Tripathy, P. K. (2004). On the taxonomy of flux vacua. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (8).
Dimopoulos, S., Kachru, S., Kaloper, N., Lawrence, A., & Silverstein, E. (2004). Generating small numbers by tunneling in multi-throat compactifications. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MODERN PHYSICS A, 19(16), 2657–2704.
DeWolfe, O., Verlinde, H., & Kachru, S. (2004). The giant inflaton. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (5).
Gukov, S., Kachru, S., Liu, X., & McAllister, L. (2004). Heterotic moduli stabilization with fractional Chern-Simons invariants. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 69(8).
Giryavets, A., Kachru, S., Tripathy, P. K., & Trivedi, S. P. (2004). Flux compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (4).
Kachru, S., Schulz, M., & Trivedi, S. P. (2003). Moduli stabilization from fluxes in a simple IIB orientifold. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (10).
Kachru, S., Liu, X., Schulz, M., & Trivedi, S. P. (2003). Supersymmetry changing bubbles in string theory. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (5).
Kachru, S., & McAllister, L. (2003). Bouncing brane cosmologies from warped string compactifications. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (3).
Kachru, S., Schulz, M. B., Tripathy, P. K., & Trivedi, S. P. (2003). New supersymmetric string compactifications. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (3).
Hellerman, S., Kachru, S., Lawrence, A., & McGreevy, J. (2002). Linear sigma models for open strings. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (7).
Kachru, S., Pearson, J., & Verlinde, H. (2002). Brane/flux annihilation and the string dual of a non-supersymmetric field theory. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (6).
Dimopoulos, S., Kachru, S., Kaloper, N., Lawrence, A., & Silverstein, E. (2001). Small numbers from tunneling between brane throats. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 64(12).
Kachru, S., & McGreevy, J. (2001). M-theory on manifolds of G(2) holonomy and type-IIA orientifolds. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (6).
Kachru, S. (2001). Lectures on warped compactifications and stringy brane constructions. Presented at the Abdus Salam ICTP Trieste Spring Workshop on Superstrings and Related Matters, TRIESTE,ITALY,ITALY: WORLD SCIENTIFIC PUBL CO PTE LTD.
Kachru, S., Katz, S., Lawrence, A., & McGreevy, J. (2000). Mirror symmetry for open strings. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 62(12).
Kachru, S., Schulz, M., & Silverstein, E. (2000). Bounds on curved domain walls in 5D gravity. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 62(8).
Kachru, S., Schulz, M., & Silverstein, E. (2000). Self-tuning flat domain walls in 5D gravity and string theory. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 62(4).
Kachru, S., Katz, S., Lawrence, A., & McGreevy, J. (2000). Open string instantons and superpotentials. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 62(2).
Kachru, S., Kumar, J., & Silverstein, E. (2000). Orientifolds, renormalization-group flows and closed string tachyons. CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM GRAVITY, 17(5), 1139–50.
Harvey, J. A., Kachru, S., Moore, G., & Silverstein, E. (2000). Tension is dimension. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (3).
Kachru, S., & McGreevy, J. (2000). Supersymmetric three-cycles and (super)symmetry breaking. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 61(2).
Kachru, S., Kumar, J., & Silverstein, E. (1999). Vacuum energy cancellation in a nonsupersymmetric string. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 59(10).
Kachru, S., & Silverstein, E. (1999). On vanishing two loop cosmological constants in nonsupersymmetric strings. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (1).
Kachru, S., Lawrence, A., & Silverstein, E. (1998). Matrix description of Calabi-Yau compactifications. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 80(14), 2996–99.
Aharony, O., Berkooz, M., Kachru, S., & Silverstein, E. (1998). Matrix description of (1,0) theories in six dimensions. PHYSICS LETTERS B, 420(1-2), 55–63.
Kachru, S., & Silverstein, E. (1998). Self-dual nonsupersymmetric type II string compactifications. JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, (11).
