String Theory & Quantum Gravity
An independent primer on string compactification, geometry, duality, supersymmetry, the Swampland program, black holes, topological strings, the dark dimension, and attempts to connect quantum-gravity consistency with observable physics, designed around research themes associated with Cumrun Vafa.
3 modules · 7 lessons · 1h · mastery threshold 80
Watch videos free — no sign-inBackground for Research in the Cumrun Vafa Research Program at Harvard This independent educational primer introduces scientific concepts relevant to research themes associated with Cumrun Vafa at Harvard University. It is not an official Harvard University or Cumrun Vafa course and does not imply endorsement or affiliation. For advanced high-school students and early undergraduates with popular-science familiarity with string theory, extra dimensions, Calabi–Yau spaces, black holes, supersymmetry and the landscape. Approximately 50–60 minutes including videos and assessments. No capstone or Research Defense is required; certificate eligibility is mastery-only at 80%. Geometry → quantum-gravity consistency → low-energy physics → possible observable consequences.
Module 1
Effective theories, geometry, duality and protected data.
Module 2
Landscape, Swampland conjectures and controlled entropy calculations.
Module 3
Conditional dark-sector models and the distinction between fits and observations.
Black-hole entropy and microscopic state counting
Explain why controlled black-hole microstate counts test a quantum-gravity framework.
Connecting quantum-gravity constraints to phenomenology
Trace how a varying compactification radius can produce phenomenological predictions.
Dark Dimension scenario and Kaluza–Klein phenomenology
Explain the conditional argument for a micron-scale Dark Dimension and its KK tower.
Dark-sector connections and evidential limitations
Distinguish proposed dark gravitons and hierarchy connections from observed dark matter.
Distinguishing model fits, predictions, and experimental evidence
Distinguish observational inputs, model fits, and experimental confirmation.
Duality as equivalent physical descriptions
Explain how equivalent dual descriptions can make a strongly coupled problem calculable.
Effective field theory, UV completion, and the IR/UV distinction
Explain how integrating out high-energy degrees of freedom produces an IR effective field theory.
Moduli, Kaluza–Klein towers, and geometric scales
Relate moduli and compactification radius to the masses of a Kaluza–Klein tower.
Quantum-gravity consistency as a research question
Distinguish low-energy consistency from a quantum-gravity UV completion.
String compactification and geometry-to-physics mapping
Explain how compactification geometry maps into lower-dimensional fields and couplings.
String landscape versus Swampland
Distinguish the string landscape from apparently consistent EFTs conjectured to lack quantum-gravity completion.
Supersymmetry, BPS protection, and exact quantities
Describe BPS protection without claiming that supersymmetry has been observed.
Swampland conjectures and towers of light states
Explain the Distance Conjecture and distinguish conjectures from restricted theorems.
Topological strings, protected amplitudes, and the species scale
State the restricted status of OSV and the dimensional limits of species-scale estimates.