Tim Adamo
Oxford University is one the preeminent academic institutions in the world – and where 2009 Department of Mathematics graduate Tim Adamo is taking what he learned at the University of Pittsburgh and applying it in the PhD program.
Adamo, who also majored in psychology and minored in physics, had the opportunity to work with people across several departments during his time at Pitt, people who have had a significant impact on his work.
“I was fortunate to work with Ted Newman in Physics and Bard Ermentrout, and Alexander Matros in Economics,” Adamo said. “I was also lucky enough to be influenced by a wide variety of faculty; just a few who I would consider particularly important in terms of how they influenced the way I think now are: Tom Hales, Anna Vainchtein, Bill Troy, Piotr Hajlasz in Mathematics; Vladimir Savinov and Dan Boyanovsky in Physics and Jack Ochs in Economics.”
Combining his interest in math and physics, Adamo is a member of the mathematical physics research group at Oxford, where he works in two areas -- classical general relativity and twistor theory. General relativity is Einstein's theory of gravity and Twistor theory is an approach to studying space-time rooted in complex geometry.
“With general relativity, I'm interested in how we can use complex and differential geometry to learn things about the physics encoded by the curvature of space-time, especially in asymptotic scenarios -- which are very far away from the gravitating source,” Adamo explained. “In addition to allowing us to learn things about general relativity, twistor theory also shows some promise for being an alternative root to a unified theory of physics (i.e., uniting general relativity with quantum field theory). I am particularly interested in twistor actions for gauge theories and for gravity; these constructions allow us to calculate things like scattering amplitudes for physical processes (the sort of stuff that the measure at particle colliders like the LHC) using twistor theory. My work is focused on extending twistor Yang-Mills theory from the action-based perspective, and on trying to find a fully non-linear twistor action for graviton scattering processes.”
Working with diverse groups of people is something that Adamo mastered during his time at Pitt – a skill that has certainly prepared him well for his work at Oxford.
“The people at Oxford, both the professors and students, are working on a very wide variety of topics, and it can be hard to understand what other people are talking about when you're trying to become an expert in your own area at the same time. At Pitt, I was able to take a broad array of coursework which now makes it easier for me to speak intelligently with faculty members and other students who are not in my own (small) area of expertise,” Adamo said. “And I still maintain a connection to Pitt with my collaborations with Ted Newman in the Physics department on research projects in general relativity.”
After completing his work at Oxford, Adamo hopes to continue working in academia, and influence the next generation of mathematicians. He is certainly off to an impressive start, working as a teaching assistant last fall at Oxford for a course in Special Relativity and Electromagnetism.