K. Sravan Kumar, Ph.D.
Our Universe is full of grandeur with awe-inspiring vastness, brightness, and darkness. All the spectacular large-scale structures we enjoy and wonder about in our clear night sky can be described by the magic of math and logic, which we call Theoretical Physics. From the dawn of the 19th century, our quest through theoretical physics (of course, with the help of experiments and observations) has revealed astonishing secrets of nature from the subatomic scale to galactic and even cosmological scales. This has transformed and transcended humankind both scientifically and culturally, adding an additional shine to our beautiful pale blue dot in our seemingly endless cosmos.
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Here I stand on the shoulders of brilliant minds and trying hard to understand and resolve the biggest questions we have about the Universe, nature of gravity, and matter at high energy scales. Join me in my journey of passion, hard work, and obsession with Theoretical High Energy Physics (THEP), Cosmology and Astrophysics
My Research
​In my view, the current state of theoretical high energy physics (THEP) can be broadly seen as a quest for beyond the standard model (BSM) of particle physics and Einstein’s general relativity (GR). On the one hand, even though SM has been successful with observations so far, we greatly expect its deviations. Our theoretical endeavors beyond the SM contain several grand Unified theories (GUT) and their supersymmetric (SUSY) extensions. On the other hand, GR has been extremely successful in matching predictions of several observations over the century, including the very recent detection of gravitational waves. However, it is well known from the very beginning that GR requires modifications at small distances and time scales or at high energies that are assumed to be comparable with the Planck or ultraviolet (UV) energy scale. Adding gravity to the physics BSM, String theory and supergravity (SUGRA) are viable attempts toward UV completion of all fundamental interactions and quantum gravity. Alternatively, there have been several other quantum gravity approaches such as loop quantum gravity, non-commutative gravity, asymptotically safe quantum gravity, and causal sets, that are concentrated on understanding geometry at small length scales.
Current and future advancements in several space and ground-based cosmological, astrophysical, and the recent successful gravitational wave (GW) observations pave the way for an unprecedented leap to validate and anchor the future of THEP. The crucial challenge for THEP in the present era is the self-consistent development of UV complete physics together with robust predictions through which we can test our path towards a unified quantum theory of all fundamental forces of nature. In this regard, it is vital to draw a clear and unbiased road map to capture all of our attempts for quantum gravity and UV completion.
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My passion revolves around all the above different facets of Theoretical High Energy Physics. My research interests are quantum gravity, theoretical cosmology, particle physics, and black holes. My research so far encompasses studies of early Universe (inflationary) cosmology: from string theory to particle physics, late-time acceleration, dark matter, and dark energy, and in recent years more focused on theory and applications of UV complete analytic infinite derivative (non-local) theories of gravity which are inspired from string theory. The main objectives of my future research are
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Formulating a unitary quantum field theory in curved spacetime.
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Understanding black hole formation and evaporation at the quantum level.
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Formulating and probing the aspects of higher derivative gravity theories in the context of quantum gravity and early Universe cosmology. Especially I would like to understand the UV completion of quadratic curvature gravity and Starobinsky inflation.
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Finding signatures of string theory and SUGRA through cosmological correlations and gravitational waves.
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Finding unified theoretical frameworks for origins of large-scale structure and the elusive dark matter and testifying the models in the scope of future gravitational-wave observations.
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Investigating astrophysical black holes through higher derivative and higher curvature modifications of GR.
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Exploring if any UV aspects of gravity necessarily imply the mysterious current acceleration of the Universe due to dark energy.
