Physical Society Colloquium

Interview for Faculty Position

Holography and Cosmology

Alexander Maloney

SLAC

String theory has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmology of the early universe. For example, by considering string theories with both inflating and Anti-de Sitter vacua, one can probe inflation using the holographic correspondence. In this case quantum gravity in an inflating universe is described by a dual field theory in a special mixed state. Information about the inflating region is encoded in subtle correlations of this state. Holography can also be used to study string theory in a universe with big bang and big crunch singularities.In this case, the dual field theory gives a non-perturbative description of quantum gravity in a closed universe.