SEAN HARTNOLL Mathematics

Sean Hartnoll image
Subject
Mathematics
College positions
Fellow and Director of Studies
University positions
1967 Professor of Mathematical Physics
Email Address

Biography

My research is concerned with theoretical problems in quantum mechanics and in gravity. These theories are independently well-established, but putting them together seems to require new mathematical structures that haven’t been fully articulated yet.

A persistent theme of recent research in the field is the connection between quantum entanglement and the geometry of spacetime. It may be that the continuous space we find ourselves living in, which is described by nonlinear partial differential equations written down by Einstein, dissolves at the shortest distance scales into something more discrete and less structured, and where quantum mechanics itself builds up the notion of “closeness” that we associate with space.

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