Not Your Grandpa’s Theory of Everything

Sophia Domokos
Department of Physics, New York Institute of Technology

What is string theory? Why does it remain such an active area of theoretical physics research? In this talk, I will give a broad overview of string theory as a mathematical framework that encompasses myriad physical (and mathematical) phenomena. I will focus on how string theory’s extra dimensions geometrize particles’ inherent traits (like mass and spin), and how powerful tools called “dualities” may help us understand physical systems from the protons and neutrons in each atomic nucleus, to the mysterious interiors of black holes.