First Name
Joanna
Last Name
Karczmarek
Position
Associate Professor
Office Room
Hennings 406
Tel (Office)
(604) 822-2929
Email
joanna@phas.ubc.ca

Students Wanted
willing to supervise

Preferred Citation Style
Chicago


Bachelor's Degree
Queen's University, 1998, Mathematical Physics

Doctoral Degree
Princeton University, 2002, Physics

Employment History
  • Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, 2002-2005
  • Postdoc at Rutgers University, 2005-2006
  • UBC, 2006-current

Citizenship
Canadian

Additional Information

I am originally from Poland and have moved to Canada when I was in highschool. I am married and have two children.


Research Area
Theoretical Physics

Research Field
String theory

Research Topics
Matrix models, emergent spacetime, noncommutative geometry, time dependence

Abstract

Most recently, I have been working with noncommutative geometry as well as various matrix models and their appliacations to black hole entropy, AdS/CFT correspondence and other topics.   A lot of my research is motivated by an interest in emergence of spacetime, geometry and spacetime dynamics (gravity).  Noncommutative and nonabelian structures (such as matrix models) arise very naturally in String Theory, and  offer us important hints towards the necessary structure of the theory of quantum gravity.

I am also interested in time-dependent string theory. This is an important topic, as a deeper understanding of the role of time in string theory is necessary for the study of cosmology and other time-dependent processes (black hole formation, tachyon decay, D-brane decay...) in quantum gravity. A lot of my work has been focused on two-dimensional string theory and its exact solution: the matrix model. This is a fun toy model, where a lot of complex physics can be studied exactly.

In the past, I have also worked on S-branes and the dynamics of tachyon condensation, as well as String Field Theory.


Selected Publications

For a complete list of my (string theory) publications from the INSPIRE database (including citations and links to complete papers on the arXiv), click here.

For my papers on AMO physics, see my website.