What about physics fascinates you?

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what fascinates me about physics, because there is just so many exciting things going on all the time. Whether it be something that I do on a daily basis, which is trying to understand the mathematical aspects of string theory and quantum field theory, or whether it be more experimental aspects like detecting neutrinos coming in from space by putting in detectors in the middle of nowhere in Greenland, modelling blackhole collisions responsible for gravitational waves that hit us all the time, entangling photons to continuously test the limits of quantum mechanics and more, I could go on and on.

What are you working on nowadays?

Currently, I am working on understanding how ideas from theoretical physics can help us understand certain mathematical aspects of geometries. To be more specific, let us imagine we are in a rocket ship, moving through space, with our boosters turned off. This means that we are moving purely due to our inertia and due to the gravitational pull of objects in space, like planets, suns, blackholes etc. One way to look at this situation would be to say that given the locations of these objects in space, one can calculate the gravitational pull acted on our rocket ship, hence determining its trajectory. Another way to look at this situation would be to record the trajectory of the rocket ship, and then figure out the locations of the objects in space that are pulling us. Since gravity is the curvature of spacetime, the second point of view is essentially equivalent to trying to calculate the curvature of spacetime given the trajectory of rockets moving in space.

These kinds of inverse problems have existed forever. For example, to discover Neptune, physicists observed the motion of planets, and then realised that for this motion to be consistent with Newton’s gravitation law, there must exist a planet like Neptune, which as we all know turned out to be true. Similar ideas can also be used in mathematics, where geometrical structures are probed by putting physics on them. More specifically, currently my focus is on studying quantum field theory and string theory on different manifolds to understand their topology.

What was your Master’s experience at ETH like?

My Master’s experience at ETH was wonderful! The coursework really pushed me out of my comfort zone, which is good because it helped me learn things that I wouldn’t have been able to learn otherwise. My master thesis at ETH was my first foray into theoretical physics, and it really helped me learn how to think deeply about physics problems mathematically. Finally, I met and learnt from a lot of amazing people, and I am fortunate enough to call a lot of them my friends.

How is your PhD at Uppsala going?

I think my PhD at Uppsala is going well. I am fortunate enough to be doing something that I really enjoy as a full-time job, and I also feel very lucky to be in a vibrant theoretical physics research group with very significant interactions with the mathematics department. Moreover, while there are a lot of people working on things that I am directly interested in, there are also a lot of people who are working on other but still extremely interesting topics like formal aspects of amplitudes, blackhole scattering, string cosmology, integrability, machine learning and non-invertible symmetries. Also, just like before, I have met a lot of incredible people and am lucky that many of them are now my friends.

What advice would you give to bright young folks seeking to build a career in the sciences?

I generally tell people not to listen to any advice because there is no size that fits all, but one thing that I do want to say is that if you like science and want to build a career in it, enjoy the experience.