Michael Dine
Professor of Physics
B.A., Johns Hopkins University, 1974
Ph.D., Yale University, 1978

Contents

Textbook: Supersymmetry and String Theory, Beyond the Standard Model (Cambridge University Press)

Contact Information

Teaching

Research Interests

Research Related Postings

Links

Contact Information

Office: 322 Interdisciplinary Sciences Building (ISB) 322

Electronic mail address: dine@scipp.ucsc.edu

Office phone: (831) 459-3033

Fax: (831) 459-3043

Back to top

Activities/Honors

UCSC Faculty at American Academy Induction 2010 (Fall 2010)

Teaching

Physics 116 (Spring 2012)

``Is There a Quantum Enigma?" -- Guest lecture in course of the same title

Physics 217 (Fall 2013)

Physics 222 Advanced Quantum Field Theory (Graduate) (Spring 2011)

Physics 214 Electricity and Magnetism (Graduate) (Winter 2011)

Physics 212 Electricity and Magnetism (Graduate) (Fall 2010)

Physics 295 Independent Study: Topics in Quantum Field Theory (Spring 2010)

Physics 171 General Relativity (Fall 2007)

Physics 105 Mechanics (Fall 2004)

Physics 290 Beyond the Standard Model: Supersymmetry and String Theory (Fall 2004)

Physics 216 Quantum Mechanics (Spring 2004)

Physics 110B (Spring 2006)

Physics 101B (Winter 2005)

Physics 218 (Winter 2004)

Back to top

Back to top

Research Interests

The principle goal of my research through the years has been to address questions left unanswered by the Standard Model. These questions include understanding the hierarchy between the weak scale and the Planck scale, the strong CP problem, the origin of the generation structure of quarks and leptons, as well as the quark and lepton mass matrix, quantum general relativity and its puzzles, and questions of early universe cosmology, such as the origin of the asymmetry between matter and antimatter, the nature of the dark matter, and the physics which underlies inflation. I have made several important contributions to our thinking about a number of these subjects, and, needless to say, have been less successful in my attacks on others.

In attacking the hierarchy problem, in collaboration with Fischler and Srednicki, I was among the first to suggest that supersymmetry might play an important role, and developed (in collaborations) some of the first phenomenologically sensible models of low energy supersymmetry. Subsequently, Affleck, Seiberg and I were the first to exhibit models of dynamical supersymmetry breaking, and to understand this phenomenon in a general way. With Ann Nelson, Yossi Nir and my student Yuri Shirman, I developed the first realistic particle physics models with dynamical supersymmetry breaking, in which ``Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking" plays a crucial role. On the question of strong CP violation, Fischler, Srednicki and I proposed the ``Invisible Axion," still among the most plausible solutions of this puzzle and the subject of active experimental search. Fischler and I were among those who first appreciated the cosmological constraints on the axion, and its possible role as a dark matter particle. String theory has lead to a much more sophisticated understanding of the invisible axion, both at a fundamental level and in cosmology, I have devoted much effort in recent years to this issue. I have also been interested in the question of spontaneous CP violation as the explanation of the small value of the $\theta$ parameter of QCD, and again string theory and supersymmetry have helped shape our understanding of these subjects.

From the start of the ``First String Revolution" in the mid 1980's, I have appreciated that string theory is a tool to investigate the full set of questions of physics beyond the Standard Model, and this has guided many of my investigations of the subject. This research deals with both fundamental issues and issues of a more phenomenological character. In the past, Rohm, Seiberg Witten and I discovered the ``gaugino condensation" mechanism which lifts the degeneracy among many string vacua. We elucidated the role of Fayet-Iliopoulos D-terms (with Seiberg and Witten) and of world sheet instantons (also with Wen). In more recent years, I have explored the phenomenology of the strongly coupled theory (with Banks), and other issues. I have throughout tried to formulate the problems of string phenomenology in a generic way, with the hope of obtaining robust predictions. In recent years, I have outlined and pursued possible programs to understand whether low energy supersymmetry might be a robust prediction of string theory, and how one might obtain predictions for the pattern of soft breakings. Recently, much of my research in string theory has focussed on understanding the so-called string theory landscape, and whether it predicts phenomena which might be observed at the Large Hadron Collider.

Research Related Postings

Talk on Solutions of the Strong CP Problem, Institute for Advanced Study, 2015

Colloquium "After the Higgs Discovery" Nov 2013 at Ben Gurion University and elsewhere

"Alternative Futures for Particle Physics" October 2013 at Neve Shalom Joint Seminar

"Alternative Futures for Particle Physics" June 2013 at ``Higgs and Beyond", Sendai

Talk at MIT "Ramifications of Discrete R Symmetriess" April, 2013

Vision Talk at BNL Energy Frontiers Workshop, "Alternative Futures for Particle Physics" April 2013

Talk at Frontiers Workshop, Minneapolis "Ramifications of Discrete R Symmetries -- Rethinking Naturalness"

Talk at UCI, USC "Ramifications of Discrete R Symmetries"

Talk at UCB, "QCD Instantons: SUSY and Not"

Talk at UCB, "QCD Instantons: SUSY and Not"

Lectures at the 2011 Jerusalem Winter School, "Supersymmetry from the Bottom Up and the Top Down"

Talk at West Coast LHC Meeting, 2011, "Naturalness Under Stress"

Plenary Talk, SUSY 2011 (Fermilab) ``Recent Theory Developments: Implications for Low Energy Supersymmetry

Plenary Talk at {\it String Phenomenology 2011}, University of Wisconsin. ``Arenas for String Phenomenology"

Seminar (SLAC, Harvard, UCB, Cal Tech, Davis): Discrete R symmetries and low energy supersymmetry

Review of Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking, with John Mason

Seminar (SLAC, UCSD): Reliable Semiclassical Calculations in QCD

Plenary Talk at String Phenomenology 2010 (Paris), Discrete R Symmetries: Macrophysics and Microphysics

Baryogenesis Review for Reviews of Modern Physics

Colloquium: Dawn of the LHC Era: A Confrontation with Fundamental Questions

Talk: Symmetries in String Theory

Talk for Astrophysics Seminar at Lawrence Berkeley Lab: Effective Field Theory and the Early Universe

Baryogenesis Review in Reviews of Modern Physics (requires subscription)

Baryogenesis Plenary Talk at SLAC Conference on Heavy Flavor Physics

Future Directions in Particle Physics

Plenary Talk at SUSY 2006 (Irvine): Naturalness and the Landscape

Popular Talk: The Big Bang, How Close Can We Come

Popular Talk: AntiMatter

Talk for School Children, Astronomy Buffs: A Quick Tour of the Universe

Beamline Article on Supersymmetry

A Colloquium: String Theory and the Landscape

Princeton University Colloquium: When will String Theory Confront Experiment

Recent picture of my parents

Back to top

Links

Physics Faculty

SCIPP Home Page (Includes Seminar Information)

Physics Home Page

Graduate Program

Back to top

Last Revised: December 14, 2010