Joey Medved

Biography

Prof. Medved, who is the most recent addition to the Department's academic staff (February, 2011), is a theoretical physicist working in the areas of gravitation and quantum field theory.  His research has spanned various topics in black hole thermodynamics, the holographic paradigm, the string-theory based AdS/CFT correspondence (and generalizations thereof) and holographic-inspired cosmologies.  Dr. Medved has most recently been actively collaborating with Prof. Ram Brustein (of Ben-Gurion University, Israel) on various investigations, including the hydrodynamic properties of strongly coupled fluids (via the AdS/CFT duality), higher-derivative gravity theories and consequences of quantum-fluctuating geometries.

Research Interest

My main focus is on the synthesis of the two great pillars of modern physics --- gravity and quantum field theory --- but not in a formal way as, say, a ‘proper’ string theorist might aspire. Rather, I focus my attention on semiclassical aspects of quantum gravity and, for the most part, from a model-independent perspective. For instance, I might ask how causality and probability conservation (the bare minimal requirements of any candidate fundamental theory) impact upon, say, the evaporation rate of black holes. My doctoral thesis was on quantum-corrected black hole thermodynamics and serves as proof that I can carry out long arduous calculations whenever so required. For now, though, I prefer a more philosophical approach to physics with emphasis on the underlying principles and conceptual logistics.