Derek K. Wise
I am a VIGRE postdoc and Visiting Research Assistant Professor at U.C. Davis.
My research is in mathematical physics, especially classical and quantum gravity, and applications of geometry, topology,
and n-category theory to physics.
On this site:
Latest news:
I'm building a new webpage of quantum gravity resources:
The Quantum Gravity Signpost
Check out my new paper with Aristide Baratin:
2-Group Representations for Spin Foams. In this little 8-page paper, we explain "2-groups", their representation theory, and how they can be used in spin foam models.
It serves as an introduction, especially for physicists and topologists, for our long article Infinite-Dimensional
Representations of 2-Groups, written with
John Baez and
Laurent Freidel, and relates this paper to the
Baratin-Freidel spin foam model. This relationship was the reason we started studying 2-group representations in the first place.
I also have a recent article in a special collection dedicated to Élie Cartan:
Symmetric space Cartan connections and gravity in three and four dimensions, SIGMA 5 (2009), 080, 18 pages.
Two other recent papers, on "topologically massive gravity", with coauthors
Steve Carlip,
Stanley Deser, and
Andrew Waldron:
Last academic year, Andrew Waldron and I organized a year-long program on "Quantum Geometry", including a topics course on
Gauge Theory and Gravity.
My Background
Education
Ph.D in Mathematics, University of
California, Riverside (15 June 2007)
Thesis: Topological Gauge Theory, Cartan Geometry, and Gravity
Advisor: John C. Baez
M.S. in Mathematics, University of
California, Riverside (20 March 2004)
B.S. in Physics, Abilene Christian
University (8 May 1998)
B.A. in Mathematics, Abilene Christian
University (8 May 1998)
Research
My current research is in quantum gravity, geometry, and category theory.
Here are some of the subjects I've worked on:
-
Topologically massive 3d gravity
-
Representations of 2-groups, with applications to spin foam models
-
p-Form Electromagnetism on Discrete Spacetimes
-
Cartan Geometry and its uses in various formulations of gravity:
- MacDowell Mansouri gravity with an Immirzi parameter
- 3d general relativity and its extension to topologically massive gravity
-
Strings in 4d topological gauge theory, and their exotic statistics
-
Higher gauge theory
Much more information can be found on my research page, or you can just take a look at my list of papers.
When I was an undergraduate, I did research in experimental particle physics. I spent 5 summers working at FermiLab and a few months at Paul Scherrer Institue. I don't work on particle physics any more, but big experiments like the one I worked on at FermiLab (E866) take a long time to analyze data and publish results, so I have several particle physics papers, some of them fairly recent, even though my direct contribution to the experiment was back when we were building the detector array and collecting the data.
Teaching
I am currently teaching Math 16A (Short Calculus).
I have been teaching in some capacity since about 1994, when I was an undergraduate lab instructor. I enjoy working with students.
To see a list of math and physics courses I've taught, click
here.
Elsewhere on my webpages
Here are some of the things you can find on this site:
- Research –
a summary of my research in mathematics and theoretical physics.
- Papers –
a list of my published papers and preprints.
- Teaching –
information about my teaching, and classes I've taught
- Talks –
some of the talks I've given in various places, many with downloadable slides.
- Lecture Notes –
Notes from courses I've taught, as well as notes I've written, based on some lectures by John Baez.