Dr David Vegh

Profile

I completed my undergraduate studies at Eötvös University in Budapest, spending a semester at Humboldt and the Free University of Berlin. Following that, I did my PhD at MIT, after which I was a postdoc at the Simons Center in Stony Brook, CERN, Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, and Utrecht University before joining the Centre for Theoretical Physics in 2017.

Undergraduate Teaching

I teach Physical Dynamics (SPA5304 2nd year BSc, semester B). I also offer 3rd-year, 4th-year and MSc research projects in the areas of string theory, black hole physics, and holography.

Postgraduate Teaching

I teach Advanced Quantum Field Theory (SPA7001P MSc, semester B). I also offer research projects in the areas of string theory, black hole physics, and holography.

Research

Research Interests:

Our current understanding of Nature is centered around two theories: general relativity which describes classical gravity, and quantum field theory which describes the strong and electroweak interactions and various low-energy phenomena. Naive attempts to unify these two theories lead to insurmountable difficulties. Moreover, a unified theory would ideally explain recent cosmological observations such as the acceleration of the universe, dark matter, and cosmic inflation. Addressing these challenges requires new ideas.

In recent years it has become clear that gravity and quantum physics are not incompatible. On the contrary, they are intimately connected: the emergence of spacetime is thought to be related to the quantum entanglement of degrees of freedom in a “holographic dual” quantum system. However, the nature of this emergence is not fully understood and controlled toy models for emergent gravity would be extremely valuable. The main objective of my current research is to construct such models.

I am also interested in strongly correlated condensed matter systems which have no quasiparticle excitations.

Examples of research funding:

Current Grant: STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship 2017-2022, ST/P004334/1

Publications

My list of publications:

Complete list of publications on inspirehep

• Sword L, Vegh D (2024). Quantum mechanical bootstrap on the interval: Obtaining the exact spectrum. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.109.126002

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Chapman S, Galante DA, Harris E et al. (2023). Complex geodesics in de Sitter space. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/JHEP03(2023)006

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/85463
• Sword L, Vegh D (2022). What lies beyond the horizon of a holographic p-wave superconductor. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/jhep12(2022)045

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/84158
• Vegh D, Sword L (2022). Kasner geometries inside holographic superconductors. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/JHEP04(2022)135

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/78726
• Vegh D (2021). Celestial fields on the string and the Schwarzian action. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/jhep07(2021)050

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/73220
• Čeplak N, Vegh D (2021). Pole skipping and Rarita-Schwinger fields. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.103.106009

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/72443
• Vegh D (2021). Pair-production of cusps on a string in AdS3. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/jhep03(2021)218

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/71765
• Čeplak N, Ramdial K, Vegh D (2020). Fermionic pole-skipping in holography. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/JHEP07(2020)203

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/66498
• Blake M, Davison RA, Vegh D (2020). Horizon constraints on holographic Green’s functions. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/JHEP01(2020)077

  
  

  QMRO: https://uat2-qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/62642
• De Boer J, Llabrés E, Pedraza JF et al. (2018). Chaotic Strings in AdS/CFT. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.201604

  
  

  QMRO: https://uat2-qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/39529
• VEGH D (2018). Segmented strings coupled to a B-field. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/JHEP04(2018)088

  
  

  QMRO: https://uat2-qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/36719
• VEGH D (2018). The broken string in Anti-de Sitter space. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/JHEP02(2018)045

  
  

  QMRO: https://uat2-qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/36175
• Blake M, Tong D, Vegh D (2014). Holographic Lattices Give the Graviton an Effective Mass. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.071602

  
  

  QMRO: https://uat2-qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/31187
• Faulkner T, Iqbal N, Liu H et al. (2013). Charge transport by holographic Fermi surfaces. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.88.045016

  
  

  QMRO: https://uat2-qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/35445
• Hartnoll SA, Hofman DM, Vegh D (2011). Stellar spectroscopy: Fermions and holographic Lifshitz criticality. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1007/jhep08(2011)096

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Faulkner T, Liu H, McGreevy J et al. (2011). Emergent quantum criticality, Fermi surfaces, and AdS2. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.83.125002

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Faulkner T, Iqbal N, Liu H et al. (2011). Holographic non-Fermi-liquid fixed points. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2010.0354

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Liu H, McGreevy J, Vegh D (2011). Non-Fermi liquids from holography. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.83.065029

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Faulkner T, Iqbal N, Liu H et al. (2010). Strange Metal Transport Realized by Gauge/Gravity Duality. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1126/science.1189134

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Hanany A, Vegh D, Zaffaroni A (publicationYear). Brane tilings and M2 branes. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2009/03/012

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Vegh D, McGreevy J (publicationYear). Semi-flatland. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2008/10/068

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Butti A, Forcella D, Hanany A et al. (publicationYear). Counting chiral operators in quiver gauge theories. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2007/11/092

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Hanany A, Vegh D (publicationYear). Quivers, tilings, branes and rhombi. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2007/10/029

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Franco S, Hanany A, Krefl D et al. (publicationYear). Dimers and orientifolds. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2007/09/075

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Franco S, Vegh D (publicationYear). Moduli spaces of gauge theories from Dimer models: proof of the correspondence. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2006/11/054

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Hanany A, Herzog CP, Vegh D (publicationYear). Brane tilings and exceptional collections. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2006/07/001

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Franco S, Hanany A, Martelli D et al. (publicationYear). Gauge theories from toric geometry and brane tilings. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2006/01/128

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref
• Franco S, Hanany A, Vegh D et al. (publicationYear). Brane dimers and quiver gauge theories. nameOfConference

  
  

  DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2006/01/096

  
  

  QMRO: qmroHref

Supervision

Current Students:

Lewis Sword (2020-)

Public Engagement

A short video about my research area

Grants

STFC, Ernest Rutherford Fellowship, ST/P004334/1, 1/10/2017-30/09/2022 (no-cost extension until Sept 2023) £424,924