Yiming Chen

Overview

Quantum Gravity; String theory

Research Focus

My research focuses on quantum gravity, which studies how macroscopic spacetime phenomena, such as black hole horizons and expanding universes, emerge from a fundamental microscopic description. I am also broadly interested in related questions in quantum field theory and string theory, as well as the surprising connections between gravity, quantum chaos, and quantum information. 

A major part of my research explores the role of novel spacetime geometries, such as wormholes, in the semiclassical gravitational path integral. Recent work has shown that these configurations can shed light on the black hole information problem and be used to constrain low energy effective theories, for example by placing bounds on the violations of global symmetries. I am interested in exploring these implications more broadly. A particular focus is on what they can teach us about quantum gravity in an expanding universe. 

Another focus of mine is to understand how macroscopic spacetime structures like the horizons of black holes emerge from microscopic degrees of freedom in string theory. By bridging the gap between ideas from semiclassical gravity and string theory, my goal is to uncover new insights about the non-perturbative aspects of the theory that would have broad applications. To this end, my recent work has focused on developing a refined understanding of black hole microstates in quantum Yang-Mills gauge theories through the gauge/string duality. I am also interested in exploring how novel numerical techniques, such as bootstrap methods, can be used to inform black hole physics.