His lecture notes: It has been known for quite some time that ten-dimensional string theory is contained within a fairly mysterious eleven-dimensional theory of membranes (higher dimensional generalizations of strings) called M-theory. Both string theory and M-theory exhibit a duality where, in specific scenarios, quantum physics and gravity provide different points of view on the very same properties of a system. I will explain how in using this duality one can shed light onto a puzzling aspect of the physics of the M-theory membranes.

Silviu Pufu is currently a graduate student at Princeton University where he works with Professors Steven Gubser, Christopher Herzog, and Igor Klebanov. Before starting graduate school, Silviu received his A.B. degree in Physics, also from Princeton University, in 2007.