MIT Center for Theoretical Physics


The MIT Center for Theoretical Physics is the hub of theoretical nuclear physics, particle physics, and quantum information research at MIT. It is a subdivision of MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science and Department of Physics.

Research

CTP activities range from string theory and cosmology at the highest energies down through unification and beyond-the-standard-model physics, through the standard model, to QCD, hadrons, quark matter, and nuclei at the low energy scale.
Members of the CTP are also currently working on quantum computation and on energy policy. The breadth and depth of research in nuclear, particle, string, and gravitational physics at the CTP makes it a unique environment for researchers in these fields.

Members

In addition to the 15 MIT faculty members working in the CTP, at any one time there are roughly a dozen postdoctoral fellows, and as many, or more, long-term visitors working at the postdoctoral or faculty level. The CTP supports 25-35 MIT graduate students, who work with the faculty and postdocs on problems across the energy spectrum.
Current research areas in the center include particle physics, cosmology, string theory, phenomenology in and beyond the standard model, quantum field theory, lattice QCD, condensed matter physics, quantum computing, and energy research.
Notable current faculty include Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek, Jeffrey Goldstone, inflationary cosmologist Alan Guth, cosmologist Max Tegmark, and quantum information scientist Peter Shor. :Category:MIT Center for Theoretical Physics faculty|Past CTP faculty members include US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Breakthrough Prize winner Daniel Freedman, particle theorist and author Lisa Randall, Abel Prize winner Isadore Singer, Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg, and many others.

Directors

Current and former faculty members in the CTP include: