Eva Silverstein

Eva Silverstein is a theoretical physicist who questions fundamental assumptions of physics theory. In collaboration with Shamut Kachru, Silverstein is linking recent theories of particle physics and cosmology. She explores the relationship between the cosmological constant (a concept that originated with Einstein's general theory of relativity) and more recent explanations of particle physics based on string theory. These studies provide key insights into the age, structure, dynamics, and eventual fate of the universe. Quantum theory requires any vacuum to be filled with particles and antiparticles, continually created and annihilated. Getting the equations to add up properly requires quantum field theorists to postulate a host of, as yet, unobserved particles subsumed under a theory known as “supersymmetry.” Against this body of research, Silverstein and Kachru have employed orbifold theory to show how string theory can potentially explain vacua without resorting to postulating a zoo of supersymmetric particles that, if the program is successful, would greatly reduce the conflict between the cosmological constant and particle physics. Silverstein is an associate professor in the Department of Physics at Stanford University, where she is also affiliated with the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Silverstein received a B.A. (1992) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. (1996) from Princeton University.