Xi Yin

Xi Yin is a Professor of Physics at Harvard University's Department of Physics within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is affiliated with the Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature at Harvard and maintains an active research program in theoretical physics.

Yin's research focuses on fundamental aspects of string theory and its applications across multiple domains of physics and mathematics. His work explores string theory as a framework for quantum gravity and a unified theory of everything, with particular interest in how string theory can provide insights into strongly coupled quantum field theories, conformal field theory, integrable systems, algebraic geometry, and hyperbolic geometry. His past research includes significant contributions to black holes, supersymmetric bound states in string theory, and three-dimensional conformal field theory and gauge theory. Current research directions emphasize quantum gravity in low dimensions and the holographic duality between gauge theory and string theory/gravity (AdS/CFT correspondence).

Professor Yin has received numerous prestigious awards recognizing his contributions to theoretical physics, including the NSF CAREER Award, Sloan Research Fellowship, New Horizons in Physics Prize, and designation as a Simons Investigator. He serves as a principal investigator of the Simons Bootstrap Collaboration, which focuses on nonperturbative approaches to quantum field theory.

Yin completed his undergraduate education at the University of Science and Technology of China, entering at age 12 and completing the 5-year bachelor program in 2001. He earned his PhD from Harvard University in 2006 under the supervision of Andrew Strominger. Following his doctorate, he was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and a Visiting Member at the Institute for Advanced Study before joining the Harvard faculty in 2008.