The Center for Theoretical Physics (CTP) is a unified research and teaching center focused on fundamental physics. CTP activities range from string theory and cosmology at the highest energies down through unification and beyond-the-standard-model physics, through the standard model, to QCD, hadrons, quark matter, and nuclei at the low energy scale.
Members of the CTP are also currently working on quantum computation and on energy policy. The breadth and depth of research in nuclear, particle, string, and gravitational physics at the CTP makes it a unique environment for researchers in these fields.
In addition to the 15 MIT faculty members working in the CTP, at any one time there are roughly a dozen postdoctoral fellows, and as many, or more, long-term visitors working at the postdoctoral or faculty level. The CTP supports 25-35 MIT graduate students, who work with the faculty and postdocs on problems across the energy spectrum.
Research areas include:
The breadth and depth of research in nuclear, particle, string, and gravitational physics at the CTP makes it a unique environment for researchers in these fields.
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Physicist Netta Engelhardt is searching black holes for universal truths
She says one question drives her work: “Which pillars of gravitational physics are just not true?”
April 9, 2024
Eight from MIT named 2024 Sloan Research Fellows
Fellows honored for creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments.
February 29, 2024
Everything, everywhere all at once
Cosmologist and MLK Scholar Morgane König uses gravitational waves to study the universe’s origins, inflation, and present trajectory.
November 29, 2023
School of Science welcomes new faculty in 2023
Sixteen professors join the departments of Biology; Chemistry; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; Mathematics; and Physics.
September 25, 2023
Soonwon Choi wins 2024 Inchon Award
MIT assistant professor of physics receives Inchon award for advancements in the field of quantum science.
September 19, 2023
Mikhail Ivanov wins 2024 New Horizons in Physics Breakthrough Prize
MIT assistant professor of physics shares award for understanding the large-scale structure of the universe.
September 18, 2023
Professor Emeritus Roman Jackiw, “giant of theoretical physics,” dies at 83
Over more than 50 years at MIT, he made fundamental contributions to quantum field theory and discovered topological and geometric phenomena.
June 20, 2023
Physicist Daniel Harlow explores an alternate quantum reality in search of fundamental truths to our physical universe.
June 7, 2023
Phiala Shanahan is seeking fundamental answers about our physical world
With supercomputers and machine learning, the physicist aims to illuminate the structure of everyday particles and uncover signs of dark matter.
February 28, 2023
Can you trust your quantum simulator?
MIT physicists have developed a protocol to verify the accuracy of quantum experiments.
January 18, 2023
MIT researchers use quantum computing to observe entanglement
Researchers at the Center for Theoretical Physics lead work on testing quantum gravity on a quantum processor.
December 1, 2022
Dr. Frank Wilczek Receives 2022 Templeton Prize
Wilczek Joins Past Laureates Mother Teresa and Jane Goodall to Receive One of the World’s Largest Individual Lifetime Achievement Awards.
May 11, 2022
Engelhardt named 2022 Sloan Research Fellow
Early-career researchers honored for creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments.
February 16, 2022
The problem-solver: Cosmic inflation
Just over 40 years ago, a new theory about the early universe provided a way to tackle multiple cosmological conundrums at once.
November 9, 2021
Four MIT faculty members receive 2021 US Department of Energy early career awards
Faculty from the departments of Physics and of Nuclear Science and Engineering faculty were selected for the Early Career Research Program.
June 24, 2021
New Frank Wilczek book looks at ten keys to reality
To understand ourselves and our place in the universe, “we should have humility but also self-respect,” the physicist writes in a new book.
January 12, 2021
Xiaojun Yao on Quantum Computer and the Subatomic Universe
CTP postdoc Xiaojun Yao is in an article about how physicists are exploring quantum computing as a valuable new tool in their quest to understand the subatomic universe.
December 10, 2020
Phiala Shanahan receives Kenneth G. Wilson Award for work in lattice field theory
Recognition honors research into nuclear structure and reactions.
November 18, 2020
Five MIT researchers receive awards from the American Physical Society
William Barletta, Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Katelin Schutz, and Phiala Shanahan honored for contributions to physics.
November 4, 2020
Netta Engelhardt and the Black Hole Information Paradox
The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End.
October 30, 2020
Daniel Harlow awarded Packard Foundation Fellowship
Physics professor receives one of the most prestigious nongovernmental awards for early-career scientists.
October 20, 2020
Phiala Shanahan wins APS Maria Goeppert Mayer Award
To recognize and enhance outstanding achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career, and to provide opportunities for her to present these achievements to others through public lectures in the spirit of Maria Goeppert Mayer.
October, 2020
Phiala Shanahan Named Science News Scientist to Watch
This year’s SN 10 scientists aim to solve some of science’s biggest challenges.
September 30, 2020
Provably exact artificial intelligence for nuclear and particle physics
MIT-led team uses AI and machine learning to explore fundamental forces.
September 24, 2020
Four from MIT awarded 2021 New Horizons in Physics and New Frontiers in Mathematics prizes
Physicists Tracy Slatyer and Netta Engelhardt and mathematicians Lisa Piccirillo and Nina Holden PhD ’18 are honored by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation.
September 10, 2020
IAIFI will advance physics knowledge — from the smallest building blocks of nature to the largest structures in the universe — and galvanize AI research innovation.
August 26, 2020
Can a quantum strategy help bring down the house?
Study finds quantum entanglement could, in principle, give a slight advantage in the game of blackjack.
August 3, 2020
Four MIT faculty members receive U.S. Department of Energy early career awards
Faculty from the departments of physics, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering were selected for the 2020 Early Career Research Program.
July 15, 2020
Exploring the quantum field, from the sun’s core to the Big Bang
Theoretical physicist William Detmold unlocks the mysteries of quarks, gluons, and their “strong interactions” at the subatomic level.
May 13, 2020
Is there dark matter at the center of the Milky Way?
A new analysis puts dark matter back in the game as a possible source of energy excess at the galactic center.
December 10, 2019
Engelhardt honored with prestigious 2019 Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists
Winning postdoctoral scientists include a neuroscientist researching mosquito feeding habits, a theoretical physicist investigating the relationship between quantum gravity and black holes...
September 4, 2019
Physicists design an experiment to pin down the origin of the elements
With help from next-generation particle accelerators, the approach may nail down the rate of oxygen production in the universe.
August 20, 2019
Tracy Slatyer hunts through astrophysical data for clues to the invisible universe.
August 15, 2019
Daniel Freedman wins Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
MIT professor emeritus will share $3 million prize with Sergio Ferrara and Peter van Nieuwenhuizen for discovery of supergravity.
August 6, 2019
Seeking new physics, scientists borrow from social networks
Technique can spot anomalous particle smashups that may point to phenomena beyond the Standard Model.
July 25, 2019
Meet the 2019 tenured professors in the School of Science
Eight faculty members are granted tenure in five science departments.
July 10, 2019
Physicists calculate proton’s pressure distribution for first time
The particle’s core withstands pressures higher than those inside a neutron star, according to a new study.
February 22, 2019
Four from MIT named 2019 Sloan Research Fellows
Nikhil Agarwal, Daniel Harlow, Andrew Lawrie, and Yufei Zhao receive early-career fellowships.
February 21, 2019
2019 J.J. and Noriko Sakurai Dissertation Award in Theoretical Particle Physics Recipient
Nick Rodd becomes 3rd CTP student in 4 years to win APS Sakurai Dissertation Prize.
November 20, 2018
Evans, Barsotti and Harlow Win 2019 Breakthrough New Horizons Prize
Four other MIT researchers to receive New Horizons Prizes in math and physics; two alumni win Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
October 17, 2018
Center for Theoretical Physics Professors Earn DOE Quantum Information Science Awards
Professors Daniel Harlow, Aram Harrow, Hong Liu, and Jesse Thaler among the first recipients of new honor for advances in quantum understanding.
October 12, 2018
School of Science Welcomes 10 Professors
New faculty join the departments of Biology, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.
September 19, 2018
Light From Ancient Quasars Helps Confirm Qantum Entanglement
Results are among the strongest evidence yet for “spooky action at a distance.”
August 19, 2018
Project to Elucidate the Structure of Atomic Nuclei at the Femtoscale
Laboratory for Nuclear Science project selected to explore machine learning for lattice quantum chromodynamics.
July 6, 2018
3Q: Ernest Moniz on the Vatican climate dialogue
Professor emeritus and former U.S. energy secretary reflects on recent meeting with Pope Francis and energy and finance leaders.
June 12, 2018
Machine Learning for Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics
February 27, 2018
Center for Theoretical Physics Celebrates 50 Years
Symposium explores how novel ideas and experiments are advancing many areas of theoretical physics in newly interconnected ways.
March 28, 2018
CTP Featured in MIT Spotlight Video: Scaffolding of the Universe (Watch the YouTube video)
In the Center for Theoretical Physics at MIT, researchers develop ideas for describing the fundamental physical laws governing our universe...
January 3, 2018
