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Statement of purpose

Right now I'm a fourth year PhD student in theoretical physics, working at the interface of quantum information and quantum gravity. Many of the subjects I end up learning for my research lack good introductory references. The physics subjects are often explained in research papers that were written decades ago in now-outdated notation and terminology; the math subjects are explained in textbooks for mathematicians that mostly lack physical intuition. For aspiring physicists like me, it can be helpful to have concepts that are well-understood by experts re-interpreted and re-explained in concise, pedagogical terms.

While learning new math and physics subjects for my research, I often end up writing detailed "explainers" for myself that I think fit this niche. This blog will serve mostly as a repository for these explainers. I'll post explainers here as I write them in the hopes that they might be useful to other researchers trying to penetrate formidable subjects. At the very least, it'll be helpful for me to have this blog as a database I can pull from when a younger graduate student asks for references on a subject. Post types will likely include:

  • Detailed notes on fundamental math/physics concepts;
  • Summaries of interesting papers I read;
  • Explainers of my own papers, if I think they'll be helpful;
  • Videos and PDF notes of talks I give, both pedagogical and research-focused.

The selection of topics will depend entirely on what things I become interested in learning. My perspective is very geometric; I could accurately be called a "mathematical physicist," and my explainers prioritize visual or geometric intuition over computational power. I hope these notes will be helpful for people who think like I do.

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