Louise Dolan

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Louise Ann Dolan (born April 5, 1950 in Wilmington ) is an American theoretical physicist who deals with string theory and elementary particle physics.

Dolan studied at Wellesley College with a bachelor's degree in 1971, studied in 1971 as a Fulbright scholar at Heidelberg University and received her doctorate in theoretical physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Francis Low in 1976 ( Symmetry breakdown and coherent phenomena ). As a post-doctoral student , she was a Junior Fellow at Harvard University until 1979 , and a visiting scholar at Princeton University and at the École normal supérieure (1977). From 1979 she was an assistant professor and later an associate professor at Rockefeller University . She has been Professor of Physics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1990 .

She deals with quantum field theory (including phase transitions and symmetry breaking at finite temperature), quantum gravity and string theory, but also with statistical mechanics (spin systems, Kramers-Wannier duality). A work of hers with Roman Jackiw from 1974 was important for the study of phase transitions in the early universe. She was a pioneer in the application of affine Kac-Moody algebras and other highly symmetric algebraic structures (such as the monster group ) in particle physics.

A work by her, Goddard and Bluhm from 1987 led to a renewed awakening of interest in type II superstring theories (until then model builders preferred heterotic strings) by showing that, contrary to general expectation, there is a possibility, after compactification, for symmetry groups to obtain the particle spectrum that includes the Standard Model .

In 1987 she received the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award . In 1988 she was a Guggenheim Fellow. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society .

Fonts

  • Kac-Moody Algebra is Hidden Symmetry of Chiral Models , Phys. Rev. Lett., Volume 47, 1981, p. 1371 (early use of Kac-Moody algebras in particle physics)
  • Kac-Moody-Algebras and exact solvability in hadronic physics , Physics Reports, Volume 109, 1984, pp. 1-94
  • with R. Bluhm, Peter Goddard : A new method for incorporating symmetry into superstring theory , Nuclear Physics B, Volume 289, 1987, p. 364
  • with Goddard, Montague: Conformal field theory and twisted vertex operators , Nuclear Physics B, Volume 338, 1990, pp. 529-601
  • with Goddard, P. Montague: Conformal Field Theory, Triality, and the Monster Group , Phys. Lett. B, Volume 236, 1990, p. 165
  • Gauge Symmetry in Background Charge Conformal Field Theory , Nuclear Physics B, Volume 489, 1997, p. 245
  • The Beacon of Kac-Moody-Symmetry for Physics , Notices AMS, December 1995

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
  2. ^ Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. ^ Dolan, Jackiw: Symmetry behavior at finite temperature , Phys. Rev. D 9, 1974, pp. 3320-41, abstract
  4. ↑ Independently also through the work of Kawai, Lewellen, Tye. In the same year, however, Dixon, Kaplunovsky and Vafa published a no-go theorem for type II superstring scenarios with a realistic particle spectrum, On four dimensional gauge theories form Type II superstrings , Nucl. Phys. B, Vol. 294, 1987, p. 43
personal data
SURNAME Dolan, Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dolan, Louise Ann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American theoretical physicist
DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Wilmington