[ Bern University | Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics | Institute for Theoretical Physics | Gravity and String Theory Group]

Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics

Gravity and String Theory Group

Welcome to the homepage of Matthias Blau

Professor for Theoretical Physics at the Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics of the University of Bern, and Head of the Gravity and String Theory Group.

Physics Representative (and formerly Vice-President and acting President) of the Studienausschuss of the Faculty of Science.

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Science of the University of Neuchâtel (the Neuchâtel theory group having merged with the Bern group and moved to Bern in August 2008).

[Formerly: Swiss MC (Management Committee) Member of the EU-COST Action The String Theory Universe]

Research Interests

My research interests include, in general,

String Theory and Quantum Gravity
General Relativity
Topological Field Theory
Geometrical and Topological Aspects of QFT

Publications and Lecture Notes

If you want to know more about this, take a look at my

List of Publications

and/or at the review article

String theory as a theory of quantum gravity: a status report (here are slides of a talk (pdf) I gave on this topic)

I have written lecture notes on a variety of different topics over the years. Since some of them appear to be quite popular (in particular the lecture notes on General Relativity) I am making them available again:

Lecture Notes

Bachelor and Master Projects

If you are interested in writing your Bachelor or Master Thesis under my supervision (and you are a student at the UniBE), just get in touch with me.

Please Note: Due to lack of time and resources, I am not available for the supervision of external students or summer internships!

Here is a list of some recent

Bachelor and Master Projects and Theses

Teaching

Current semester (Autumn 2024):

Master Course: General Relativity (in English)
- Monday 13-15, Tuesday 12-14, Room 119
- Starting Date: Monday September 18th
- Webpage with further information

Past:

Courses Taught Previously

Future:

Autumn: General Relativity (Master)
Spring: Klassische Feldtheorie (Bachelor)

Outreach

Appearance in the SwissGerman SRF TV science show Einstein in the programme dedicated to the 100th anniversary of General Relativity (in German). Picture (© SRF): Trying to explain the Equivalence Principle to moderator Kathrin Hönegger.
- Link to teaser on the Einstein Program Facebook Page
- link to excerpt of the interview with me
- link to the full program

Participation in the Event
- Eine Nacht mit Albert (A Night with Albert, Friday June 3rd 2016, [pdf-flyer])
at the Bernisches Historisches Museum.

Feature
- Etwas denken, was noch niemand gedacht hat (Berner Zeitung, 27.09.2017)

Kurzauftritt in der Nachrichtensendung 10vor10 des SRF anlässlich des Todes von Stephen Hawking:
- 10vor10 (14.03.2018)
Artikel im VSAO Journal über Gravitationswellen (mit und überwiegend von Thomas Feurer)
- Die Welle, die die Welt verändert (April 2019)