Sean Hartnoll

Sean Hartnoll is the 1967 Professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Cambridge's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). He holds a joint fellowship at Clare College, where he rejoined in 2022 after a decade as a Stanford University faculty member. His research bridges high-energy physics, gravitational systems, and condensed matter, with contributions to holographic quantum matter and quantum chaos in black holes. Hartnoll earned his degrees from St John's College, Cambridge, and serves as an established author of Holographic Quantum Matter (MIT Press).

His work explores interfacial phenomena such as entanglement entropy, non-Fermi liquid behavior, and gravitational duals to condensed phases. Notable achievements include elucidating AdS black hole interiors' chaotic dynamics and formulating transport theories for strongly correlated systems. Awards include the 2015 New Horizons Prize and Simons Investigator status since 2019.

Research interests span quantum criticality, Planckian dissipation, and holographic superconductivity. His articles analyze topics like matrix model entanglement, gravitational singularities, and bad metal transport. Current activities include investigating gravitational analogs of condensed matter phenomena and advancing quantum gravity's non-perturbative aspects.