I work on discretized models of quantum geometry and gravity, and on general quantum field theory problems. Studying quantum geometry models helps us to understand the generic large-scale features that a quantum universe may possess, and how these are encoded in the short distance properties at the Planck scale. Current quantum geometry projects include the relationship of boundary states in matrix models to those in Liouville/conformal field theory, solvable matter systems on causal triangulations in two dimensions, and questions concerning quantum processes in random graph ensembles. In quantum field theory I am investigating the effective field theories describing how quantum systems that can be realised in the lab probe for new fundamental physics, and the emergence of new conformal fixed points in large N quantum field theories.
John Wheater
Professor of Physics, Head of Particle Theory Group
