David R Morrison, James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics and Physics

Please note: David has left the Mathematics department at Duke University; some info here might not be up to date.

Contact Info:

Office Location:	243 Physics Bldg
Office Phone:	(919) 660-2862
Email Address:
Web Page:	http://www.cgtp.duke.edu/~drm/

Education:

Ph.D.	Harvard University	1980
A.M.	Harvard University	1977
A.B.	Princeton University	1976

Research Interests: Algebraic Geometry and Mathematical Physics

Dr. Morrison studies complex algebraic geometry and related topics. His current primary research interests center around issues in algebraic geometry which have recently arisen in mathematical physics. Physicists studying superstring theory (a promising approach to the construction of grand unified field theories) find that the ``strings'' of the theory must propagate in a 10-dimensional spacetime. Yet since we only observe four spacetime dimensions in the real world, the other six dimensions must be playing a different rôle. It turns out that the ``extra'' six dimensions form a type of complex algebraic variety called a Calabi-Yau threefold. These varieties had been studied by algebraic geometers (including Dr. Morrison) long before the connection with physics was discovered. Dr. Morrison has spent the last dozen years working in collaboration with physicists to further develop the physical theories based on these algebraic varieties. He has also devoted a substantial effort to finding mathematical explanations for some of the discoveries about these varieties made by physicists, particularly the one known as ``mirror symmetry.''

Current Ph.D. Students   (Former Students)

Postdocs Mentored

• Adam McInroy (September 1, 2004 - August 31, 2005)  
• Robert Duivenvoorden (August 1, 2004 - July 31, 2006)  
• K. Narayan (August 1, 2002 - July 31, 2004)  
• Christian Hasse (September 1, 2001 - June 30, 2005)  
• Ilia Zharkov (September 1, 2001 - June 30, 2003)  
• Eric Sharpe (August 1, 1998 - July 31, 2001)  

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. D. Green, A. Lawrence, J. McGreevy, D. R. Morrison, and E. Silverstein, Dimensional duality (Submitted, 2007) [arXiv:0705.0550 [hep-th]]
2. M. Buican, D. Malyshev, D. R. Morrison, H. Verlinde, and M. Wijnholt, D-branes at singularities, compactification, and hypercharge, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2007) 107 (2007) [hep-th/0610007]
3. C. Curto and D. R. Morrison, Threefold flops via matrix factorization (Preprint, November, 2006) [math.AG/0611014]
4. D. S. Freed, D. R. Morrison, and I. Singer, eds., Quantum Field Theory, Supersymmetry, and Enumerative Geometry, IAS/Park City Mathematics Series, vol. 11 (2006), American Mathematical Society, Providence
5. D.R. Morrison and K. Narayan, On tachyons, gauged linear sigma models, and flip transitions, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2005) 062 (2005) [hep-th/0412337]