Mathematical Physic

Contributions Publications Honors

Louise Dolan

Jobs/Positions Education Additional Information

Some Important Contributions: "Symmetry Behavior at Finite Temperature," Phys. Rev. D9: 3320 (1974) with R. Jackiw. Phase transitions in relativistic field theories at finite temperatures. This work together with that of Kirzhnits, and Linde, and Weinberg became the foundation of quantitative analysis of phase transitions in the early universe in cosmological theories. It also gave the first calculation of a large N approximation for field theories, an expansion which has proved to be of far-reaching importance. "Kac-Moody Algebra is Hidden Symmetry of Chiral Models," Phys. Rev. Lett. 47: 1371 (1981). Pioneered the uses of Kac-Moody algebras in particle physics.This paper identified the algebra of the non-local symmetry currents of 2d chiral models as an affine Kac-Moody subalgebra. This new observation introduced most particle physicists to infinite-dimensional Kac-Moody algebras as symmetry algebras of physical theories. "A New Method of Incorporating Symmetry into Superstring Theory," Nuclear Physics B289: 364 (1987) with R. Bluhm and P. Goddard. This paper was influential in re-opening interest in type II superstring theory. It showed for the first time how non-Abelian gauge groups - containing the standard model gauge group - could be incorporated into four-dimensional model theories based on type II strings. Two further papers on string theory: "Conformal Field Theory, Triality, and the Monster Group," Phys. Lett. B236: 165 (1990) with P. Goddard and P. Montague. "Gauge Symmetry in Background Charge Conformal Field Theory," Nuclear Physics B489: 245 (1997). Honors: 1987 Maria Goeppert Mayer Award of the American Physical Society for work on the theory of elementary particles, particularly for the identification and study of Kac-Moody algebras and their applications to Yang-Mills fields and relativistic string theory. John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship 1988-89 Fellow American Physical Society Jobs/Positions: 1976-79 Junior Fellow, Harvard University 1977  Visiting Scientist, Laboratoire de Physique Theorique de L'Ecole Normale Superieure, Pari 1978  Visiting Fellow, Department of Physics, Princeton University 1979-80 Research Associate, Rockefeller University 1980-82 Assistant Professor, Rockefeller University 1984  Visiting Fellow, Imperial College, London 1986-    Consultant, T-8, Los Alamos National Laboratory 1983-90 Associate Professor, Rockefeller University 1990  Lab Head, Rockefeller University 1990-    Professor, University of North Carolina Education: B.A. Wellesley College 1971 Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1976 Sources: Louise Dolan CV Field Editor: Nina Byers <nbyers@physics.ucla.edu>