The S-matrix bootstrap is a numerical method that can be used to determine or constrain the scattering amplitudes of particles in quantum field theory using simple principles. Over the past few ...

Researchers in Japan have developed what may be the first string-theory model with a natural mechanism for explaining why our universe would seem to exist in three spatial dimensions if it actually ...

Matrix models constitute a powerful nonperturbative framework in which quantum fields and the geometry of space–time are encoded in large matrices. Originally motivated by attempts to formulate string ...

String theory proposes that the fundamental constituents of the universe are one-dimensional “strings” rather than point-like particles. What we perceive as particles are actually vibrations in loops ...

In 1980, Stephen Hawking gave his first lecture as Lucasian Professor at the University of Cambridge. The lecture was called “Is the end in sight for theoretical physics?” Hawking, who later became my ...

Promise and controversy continues to surround string theory as a potential unified theory of everything. In the latest episode of The Joy of Why, Cumrun Vafa discusses his progress in trying to find ...