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 Physics at Virginia

Diana Vaman

Ph.D., 2001, SUNY, Stony Brook
Professor

Theoretical Nuclear and Particle Physics,Theoretical High Energy Physics,Theoretical Astrophysics, Gravity and Cosmology

Research Interests

My research in theoretical particle physics is based on string theory, and I am especially interested in the connections between gauge and string theories.

Usually perceived as a theory of quantum gravity, famously predicting the existence of extra-dimensions, in recent years string theory has increasingly become an instrument used to study 3+1 dimensional gauge theories (such as the theory of strong interactions, QCD).

New methods for approaching QCD became possible through a duality between string theory formulated on a curved background (typically anti-de Sitter or AdS) and a conformal field theory (CFT) living on the boundary. This is referred to as the AdS/CFT duality. When AdS/CFT duality was extended to include non-conformal gauge theories, it become known as the gauge/string correspondence. The dual string theory can be used to probe the strongly coupled regime of the gauge theory. Through the gauge/string duality, we now have holographic descriptions of mesons, baryons and glueballs.

The low energy limit of certain string theories is a supersymmetric extension of Einstein’s gravity, called supergravity. Supergravity can be formulated in more than 3+1 dimensions, but the limit is 10+1 dimensions. The reduction to lower dimensions, which is performed by compactifying some of the extra-dimensions is called Kaluza-Klein reduction. In my research, I have also studied supergravity theories and Kaluza-Klein reductions.

In addition, I am also interested in perturbative aspects of QCD.

Selected Publications

News Items

Congratulations to Diana Vaman for winning a 2020 All-University Teaching Award! This is very well-deserved, and overdue, recognition for her consistent dedication to, and excellence in, ......More >
Gabriel Wong, a PhD student working with Profs. Israel Klich and Diana Vaman, has been selected as a KITP (the Kavli Institute For Theoretical Physics at UCSB) Graduate Fellow for the fall ......More >
On Saturday, November 2, 2013, Diana Vaman and UVa's Physics Department will again play host to the Virginia and Maryland String and Particle Theory Meeting.The invited speakers are:Justin ......More >
On Saturday, October 6, 2012, Diana Vaman and UVa's Physics Department will again play host to the Virginia and Maryland String and Particle Theory Meeting.The invited speakers are:Shinsei ......More >
On Saturday, March 31, 2012, Diana Vaman and UVa's Physics Department will play host to the Virginia and Maryland String and Particle Theory Meeting.For more ......More >

Departmental Committees

Undergraduate Program Committee (Ex-Officio)

Committee on Teaching (Chair)

Graduate Program Committee (Member)