Dr Matthew Buican

Profile

I am a theoretical physicist. I received my AB in Physics from Harvard University and my PhD in Physics from Princeton University. I was a postdoc at CERN, Rutgers University, and The University of Chicago before joining the faculty at QMUL.

Teaching

In 2017-18, I created a course called "Supersymmetric Methods in Theoretical Physics" (see here). The basic idea is to give a course in supersymmetry that emphasizes the simplest settings in which general principles emerge rather than studying SUSY as an extension of the Standard Model (although this topic is interesting in its own right!). I've taught it every year since.

In fall 2024, I will also teach second-year quantum mechanics (a.k.a., Quantum Mechanics A).

I have also supervised many Euromasters / MSc / MSci and BSc projects. The general area of study is the physics of anyons, quantum computation, and emergent phenomena.

Research

Research Interests:

See Matthew Buican’s research profile pages including details of research interests, publications, and live grants.

Supervision

List of PhD Students + Potential Projects

Current Students:

Chinmaya Bhargava: 2021-Present

Mahesh Balasubramanian: 2023-Present

Former Students:

Zoltan Laczko (joint with Maths): 2016-2020; went on to become a quantitative analyst at Man AHL in London

Linfeng Li: 2017-2021; went on to a postdoc at Korea Institute for Advanced Study

Rajath Radhakrishnan: 2018-2022; went on to a postdoc at ICTP Trieste

Potential Future Projects:

•  Algebraic operations on topological quantum field theory (TQFT)

•  Microscopic Models for New Rational Conformal Field Theories

•  New Constraints on the Supersymmetric Renormalization Group Flow in Three and Four Dimensions

•  Infinite Dimensional Symmetries and QFT in d > 2

Dissemination

Some Selected Talks

• 3/2024, NYU, "Some Applications of Free Supersymmetric Fields" (video)
• 8/2023, FPUK meeting, "Some Applications of Free Supersymmetric Fields" (video)
• 9/2021, GGI Workshop on Topological Properties of Gauge Theories, "Some Galois Actions in Topological Quantum Field Theory" (video)
• 7/2021, Hamburg ZMP colloquium, "aXb=c in 2+1D TQFT"
• 5/2019, Workshop on Beyond Rationality 2 (Woudschoten, Netherlands), "Galois Actions and QFT"
• 10/2018, Workshop on Non-perturbative Effects in Supersymmetric Field Theories (Natal, Brazil), "Flowing from 16 to 32 Supercharges" (video)
• 7/2018, Workshop on Supersymmetric Theories, Dualities and Deformations (Bern, Switzerland), “Flowing from 16 to 32 Supercharges” (video)
• 5/2018, GGI Workshop on Supersymmetric Quantum Field Theories in the Non-Perturbative Regime (Florence, Italy), “Duality and Generalized Duality"
• 4/2018, Oxford String Theory Seminar, “Duality and Generalized Duality"
• 4/2017, Joint SISSA/ICTP Seminar (Trieste, Italy), “New CFT/TFT Relations"
• 8/2016, Strings 2016 (Beijing, China), "Conformal Manifolds, Moduli Spaces, and Chiral Algebras," (video)
• 7/2016, GGI Workshop on Conformal Field Theories and Renormalization Group Flows in Dimensions d>2 (Florence, Italy), "Conformal Manifolds and Chiral Algebras"
• 3/2015, Princeton University, "Conformal Manifolds and Argyres-Douglas Theories"
• 1/2014, Quantum Fields Beyond Perturbation Theory (KITP, UC Santa Barbara), "Minimal Distances Between SCFTs," (video)
• 11/2013, Solvay Workshop on Exploring Higher Energy Physics (Brussels, Belgium), "Minimal Distances and the RG Flow"
• 5/2012, Planck 2012 (Warsaw, Poland), "R Symmetry and Emergent Symmetry"
• 11/2011, Harvard University, "R Symmetry and Non-Perturbative QFT"