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Best Scientists

D-Index
167
Citations
101739
World Ranking
979
National Ranking
580

Physics

D-Index
170
Citations
104194
World Ranking
146
National Ranking
96

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Physics in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Physics in United States Leader Award
  • 2016 - Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics
  • 2009 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2005 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1989 - Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Overview

Cumrun Vafa is affiliated with Harvard University in the United States. Their primary field of study is Physics and Astronomy, with a significant focus on Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics, Geometry and Topology, and Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics. Their research encompasses a variety of topics, particularly Black Holes and Theoretical Physics, Cosmology and Gravitation Theories, Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories, Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies, Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions, Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena, and Geometric and Algebraic Topology.

They have a substantial publication record with frequent contributions to venues such as arXiv (Cornell University), Journal of High Energy Physics, Physical Review D, UNC Libraries, and Communications in Mathematical Physics.

Some recent key papers include:

  • Trans-Planckian censorship and inflationary cosmology (2020), published in Physical Review D
  • The dark dimension and the Swampland (2023), published in Journal of High Energy Physics
  • A CFT distance conjecture (2024), published in OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information)
  • Twisted circle compactifications of 6d SCFTs (2020), published in Journal of High Energy Physics
  • Towards classification of 5d SCFTs: Single gauge node (2023), published in DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)

Throughout their career, Cumrun Vafa has collaborated frequently with several co-authors, including Miguel Montero, Hee-Cheol Kim, Max Wiesner, Irene Valenzuela, and Houri-Christina Tarazi. These collaborations indicate active engagement in the research community particularly in their areas of specialization.

Awards and honors recognizing their contributions include the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics awarded by the American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics in 2016, election as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2009, election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005, and being a Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1989.

Best Publications

  • Microscopic origin of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy

    Andrew Strominger;Cumrun Vafa

  • Strings on Orbifolds

    L. Dixon;J.A. Harvey;C. Vafa;E. Witten

  • CFT's from Calabi–Yau four-folds

    Sergei Gukov;Cumrun Vafa;Edward Witten

  • Evidence for F-theory

    Cumrun Vafa

  • Strings on Orbifolds (Ii)

    L. Dixon;J. Harvey;C. Vafa;E. Witten

  • Kodaira-Spencer theory of gravity and exact results for quantum string amplitudes

    M. Bershadsky;S. Cecotti;H. Ooguri;C. Vafa

  • Mirror Symmetry

    Eric Zaslow;Ravi Vakil;Kentaro Hori;Richard Thomas

  • The String landscape, black holes and gravity as the weakest force

    Nima Arkani-Hamed;Luboš Motl;Alberto Nicolis;Cumrun Vafa

  • On the Gauge Theory/Geometry Correspondence

    Rajesh Gopakumar;Cumrun Vafa

  • A Strong coupling test of S duality

    Cumrun Vafa;Edward Witten

  • M theory and topological strings. 2.

    Rajesh Gopakumar;Cumrun Vafa

  • Chiral rings in N = 2 superconformal theories

    Wolfgang Lerche;Cumrun Vafa;Nicholas P. Warner

  • On the Geometry of the String Landscape and the Swampland

    Hirosi Ooguri;Cumrun Vafa

  • Superstrings in the Early Universe

    Robert H. Brandenberger;C. Vafa

  • Compactifications of F-theory on Calabi-Yau threefolds. (I)

    David R. Morrison;Cumrun Vafa

  • Compactifications of F-Theory on Calabi--Yau Threefolds -- II

    David R. Morrison;Cumrun Vafa

  • A Perturbative Window into Non-Perturbative Physics

    Robbert Dijkgraaf;Cumrun Vafa

  • Geometric engineering of quantum field theories

    Sheldon H. Katz;Albrecht Klemm;Cumrun Vafa

  • The String Landscape and the Swampland

    Cumrun Vafa

  • Restrictions on Symmetry Breaking in Vector-Like Gauge Theories

    C. Vafa;Edward Witten

Frequent Co-Authors

Hirosi Ooguri
Hirosi Ooguri California Institute of Technology
Mina Aganagic
Mina Aganagic University of California, Berkeley
Sheldon Katz
Sheldon Katz University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sergei Gukov
Sergei Gukov California Institute of Technology
Edward Witten
Edward Witten Institute for Advanced Study
David R. Morrison
David R. Morrison University of California, Santa Barbara
Shing-Tung Yau
Shing-Tung Yau Tsinghua University
Nicholas P. Warner
Nicholas P. Warner University of Southern California
Albrecht Klemm
Albrecht Klemm University of Bonn
Marcos Mariño
Marcos Mariño University of Geneva

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