Mathematical Implications of Gauge-String Duality

Lecture Series by Rajesh Gopakumar (Harish-Chandra Research Institute)

Short biography

Professor Rajesh Gopakumar obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1997 under the supervision of Nobel Laureate Professor David Gross. He was subsequently a research associate at Harvard University and he joined the prestigious Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) in Allahabad, India as full-time researcher in 2001. He also held a visiting membership at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton during the period 2001-2004. Professor Gopakumar was awarded the 2004 B. M. Birla Science Prize in Physics and the ICTP Prize in 2006. He also received the highly esteemed Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 2009. He is a member of the Global Young Academy, the Indian National Science Academy, and the Indian Academy of Sciences. Professor Gopakumar is renowned for his outstanding contributions to the field of topological string theory, especially for his work with Cumrun Vafa on Gopakumar-Vafa duality and Gopakumar-Vafa invariants. His current research aims to understand gauge-string dualities better through simple examples with the eventual aim of a first principles derivation of this connection.