Research in Gravitational Physics

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The Chicago group is concerned with a broad range of research in gravitational physics. Some mathematical issues related to the theory of relativistic dissipative fluids will be investigated in detail; in particular, the "Navier-Stokes limit" of dissipative fluid equations will be studied and they will investigate the issue of how "close" solutions to different fluid equations having the same Navier-Stokes limit are to each other. The possibility of formulating a satisfactory and interpretable quantum gravity theory for homogeneous cosmologies in analogy with the theory of a relativistic particle will be studied, and properties of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for inhomogeneous cosmological models will be investigated. They will examine the issue of unitary equivalence of quantum field constructions associated with Hadamard vacuum states in globally hyperbolic spacetimes with a compact Cauchy surface. Numerous additional topics in classical general relativity, quantum field theory in curved spacetime, and quantum gravity will be investigated. The basic goal of all of this research is to obtain a deeper understanding of mathematical and physical issues in classical general relativity, and to make progress toward formulating a quantum theory of gravitation.