CURRICULUM VITAE

LÁRUS THORLACIUS

Nordita Roslagstullsbacken 23 106 91 Stockholm Sweden

Tel. +46 - 8 - 5537 8881 Fax. +46 - 8 - 5537 8404 E-mail: larus at nordita dot org

Science Institute Dunhaga 3 107 Reykjavik Iceland

Tel. +354 - 525 4650 Fax. +354 - 525 4811 E-mail: lth at hi dot is

BORN: January 27, 1964, Reykjavik, Iceland.

CITIZENSHIP: Icelandic.

EDUCATION:

• University of Iceland: B.S. in Physics, June 1984.
• Princeton University: M.A. in Physics, June 1986.
• Princeton University: Ph.D. in Physics, October 1989. Thesis Advisor: Prof. C.G. Callan.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

• Director, NORDITA - the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stockholm, Sweden, July 2008 - present.
• Research: Theoretical high energy physics, string theory, gauge/gravity duality.

• Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Iceland, July 2007 - June 2008.

• Professor, University of Iceland, August 1998 - present.
  • Research: Theoretical high-energy physics, string theory, conformal field theory.
  • Teaching: Undergraduate courses: Analytical Mechanics; Introduction to General Relativity; Quantum Mechanics I and II; Introduction to Modern Physics; Statistical Mechanics. Graduate courses: Electrodynamics; Quantum Field Theory; Introduction to Supersymmetry.
  • Graduate students:
    • K.R. Kristjansson: M.S., June 2002; Ph.D., August 2005.
    • E.J. Brynjolfsson, M.S., October 2006, Ph.D., August 2010.
    • T. Zingg, Ph.D., August 2011.
    • F. Gautason, M.S., June 2010.
• Assistant Professor, Princeton University, 1995 - 1999. (On leave 1998-99.)
  • Research: Theoretical high-energy physics, string theory, conformal field theory.
  • Teaching: Undergraduate courses: Physics 101 (introductory physics). Graduate courses: Advanced relativity theory; Introduction to M-theory; Conformal invariance in condensed matter and high-energy physics.
  • Graduate students:
    • S. Lee: Ph.D., October 1998.
    • P.D. Shocklee: Ph.D., January 2002.
• Post-Graduate Researcher, ITP, UC Santa Barbara, 1993 - 1995.
  
  • Research: Quantum aspects of gravity, string theory, conformal field theory.
• Post-Doctoral Scholar, Stanford University, 1989 - 1993.
  
  • Research: Quantum cosmology, black hole theory, string theory, particle physics.

HONORS AND AWARDS:

• US Department of Energy Outstanding Junior Investigator award, 1996 - 1999.
• The Icelandic Research Fund, Grant for Excellence, 2004 - 2006.

SUMMARY OF PUBLICATIONS:

• 42 research articles in refereed journals.
• 4 invited review articles.
• 9 articles in conference proceedings.
• 7 articles for a general audience (in Icelandic).

VISITING APPOINTMENTS:

• Visiting Professor, Department of Physics, Stanford University: September 1, 2004 - July 15, 2005.
• Visiting Scientist, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University: May 4 - June 3, 2003; May 1 - 31, 1999; November 1 - December 12, 1992.
• Corresponding Fellow at NORDITA, Copenhagen: 1995 - 1998.
• Visiting Scientist, NORDITA Copenhagen: September 1992, and August - September 1991.

INVITED LECTURE SERIES:

• AdS/CFT, Nordita Winter School 2012 on Theoretical Particle Physics, Nordita, Stockholm, January 9 - 20, 2012.
• AdS/CFT Duality, Nordic Course in String Theory, Nordita, Copenhagen, July 29 - August 7, 2003.
• Strings Branes and Black Holes, Nordita Masterclass in Physics, Hillerod, Denmark, July 19 -27, 2002.
• The AdS/CFT Correspondence, NATO Advanced Study Institute on Quantum Geometry, Akureyri, Iceland, August 9 - 20, 1999.
• Black Holes in String Theory, Nordic Course on Supersymmetric Field and String Theories, Nordita, Copenhagen, June 21 - July 3, 1997.
• Introduction to D-Branes, 33rd Karpacz Winter School of Theoretical Physics, Karpacz, Poland, February 13 - 22, 1997.
• Black Hole Evolution, Spring School on String Theory, Gauge Theory, and Quantum Gravity, Miramare-Trieste, Italy, April 11 - 19, 1994.

INVITED PLENARY TALKS:

• The Black Hole Information Paradox, Department of Physics, University of Uppsala, Sweden, December 4, 2008.
• Global Geometry of Charged Black Holes, Workshop on Strings, Black Holes, and Quantum Spacetime, Bokwang Phoenix Park, South Korea, April 21 - 23, 2006.
• Black Hole Complementarity and Holography, The Gunnar Nordstrom Symposium on Theoretical Physics, Helsinki, August 27 - 30, 2003.
• Physics of Branes, Spaatind 2000: The 16th Nordic Meeting in Particle Physics, Spaatind, Norway, January 4 - 10, 2000.
• Black Hole Complementarity, Nordic Meeting on Theoretical Physics, NORDITA, Copenhagen, August 30 - September 5, 1993.
• Is Quantum Gravity Predictable? Physics Department Colloquium, University of California at Santa Cruz, May 27, 1993.
• Stretching the Black Hole Horizon, International Conference on Quantum Aspects of Black Holes, Santa Barbara, California, June 21 - 26, 1993.
• Black Hole Evaporation, Aspen Winter Conference on Particle Physics - From Supercolliders to the Planck Scale, Aspen, Colorado, January 10 - 15, 1993.
• Black Holes in 1+1 Dimensions, Institute Colloquium, NORDITA, Copenhagen, September 18, 1992.

TALKS AT CONFERENCES:

• c = 1 Boundary Conformal Field Theory Revisited, RTN workshop: The quantum structure of spacetime and the geometrical nature of fundamental interactions, Copenhagen, September 15 - 20, 2003.
• Solitons on the Fuzzy Sphere (in Icelandic), Physics in Iceland X, Reykjavik, November 17 - 18, 2001.
• De Sitter Gravity, 14th Nordic Network Meeting on Supersymmetric Field and String Theories, Stockholm, November 15 - 17, 2001.
• Quantum Dynamics of String Webs, 12th Nordic Network Meeting on Supersymmetric Field and String Theories, Gothenburg, November 16 - 18, 2000.
• Extended Extra Dimensions and the Hierarchy Problem, 10th Nordic Network Meeting on Supersymmetric Field and String Theories, Helsinki, December 2 - 4, 1999.
• Boundary Conformal Field Theory, Workshop on String Theory, Gauge Theory, and Quantum Gravity, Miramare-Trieste, April 20 - 22, 1994.
• Reparametrization Invariant Boundary States in Background Gauge Fields, Strings 89, International Conference on String Theory, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, March 13 - 18, 1989.

INVITED SEMINARS:

AlbaNova University Centre, Stockholm, Sweden (September 24, 2008)
Queen Mary College, London, UK (March 28, 2007)
Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea (April 25, 2006)
Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark (January 31, 2006)
Institutionen för teoretisk fysik, Uppsala universitet, Uppsala, Sweden (September 28, 2005)
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, UC Santa Barbara, California (April 14, 2005)
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, California (February 25, 2005)
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, UC Berkeley, California (February 14, 2005)
Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Trondheim, Norway (March 16, 2004)
Helsinki Institute of Physics, Helsinki, Finland (June 11, 2002)
Albert Einstein Institut (MPI für Gravitationsphysik), Potsdam, Germany (December 1, 2000)
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany (November 27, 2000)
University of California at Santa Barbara, California (May 20, 1999)
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island (February 18, 1998)
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania (February 1997)
Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark (December 1996)
University of Florida at Gainesville, Florida (March 1996)
University of Syracuse, New York (March 1996)
University of Toronto, Canada (February 1996)
Chalmers Technical University, Gothenburg, Sweden (April 1995)
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (April 1995)
University of Stockholm, Sweden (August 1994)
CERN Theory Division, Genveva, Switzerland (April 30, 1994)
University of Munich, Germany (April 25, 1994)
University of Chicago, Illinois (April 6, 1994)
Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand (March 1994)
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (March 1, 1994)
Columbia University, New York (February 28, 1994)
University of California at Berkeley, California (November 2, 1993)
NORDITA, Copenhagen, Denmark (September 1993)
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, California (August 11, 1993)
University of Florida at Gainesville, Florida (February 1993)
University of Texas at Austin, Texas (February 1993)
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (February 1993)
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (January 1993)
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California (October 1992)
University of California at Berkeley, California (October 1992)
NORDITA, Copenhagen, Denmark (September 1992)
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (May 1992)
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island (May 1992)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (May 1992)
Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico (March 1992)
University of California at San Diego, California (January 1992)
University of California at Berkeley, California (November 1991)
Icelandic Physical Society, Reykjavik, Iceland (September 1991)
University of Stockholm, Sweden (September 1991)
Chalmers Technical University, Gothenburg, Sweden (September 1991)
Stanford University, California (April 1989)
Icelandic Mathematical Society, Reykjavik, Iceland (September 1987)

SERVICE:

• Associate editor of Reviews of Mathematical Physics, January 2006 - present.
• On the editorial board of Physica Scripta, January 2004 - present.
• Reserve member of the Science and Technology Policy Council of Iceland, January 2006 - October 2008.
• On the University of Iceland Standing Committee on Quality Assurance (Gaedanefnd) July 2006 - July 2008.
• On the University of Iceland Standing Committee on Teaching (Kennslumalanefnd) July 2005 - September 2007.
• On the governing board of the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (NORDITA) in Copenhagen, 2002 - 2006. Reserve board member 1999 - 2001.
• Reserve member of the Research Council of Iceland, 2000 - 2002.
• Director of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Quantum Geometry, in Akureyri, Iceland, August 9-20, 1999.
• Coordinator (with S. Chaudhuri, G. Horowitz, and J. Polchinski) of the international conference Strings '96: Current Trends in String Theory at the University of California at Santa Barbara, California, July 15-20, 1996.
• Convener (with V. Frolov) of the Working Group on Quantum Aspects of Gravity at the 1994 DPF Summer Study on High Energy Physics: Particle and Nuclear Astrophysics and Cosmology in the Next Millennium, Snowmass, Colorado, June 29 - July 14, 1994.
• Referee of numerous articles for Journal of High Energy Physics, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review D, Nuclear Physics B, Physics Letters B, and Classical and Quantum Gravity.