Course Schedule - Spring Semester 2027

     

Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).
Additional information available here.

COLL 166 001 (CRN: 26924)

QUANTUM GRAVITY

Long Title: STRING THEORY AND HOLOGRAPHIC DUALITY (WIESS)
Department: College Courses
Instructors:
Zimmerman, Carissa
Quiroz Vargas, Ignacio
Meeting: 7:00PM - 7:50PM R (11-JAN-2027 - 23-APR-2027) 
Part of Term: Full Term - No WL Purge
Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
Course Type: Seminar
Language of Instruction: Taught in English
Method of Instruction: Face to Face
Credit Hours: 1
Course Syllabus:
Course Materials: Rice Campus Store
 
Restrictions:
Must be enrolled in one of the following Level(s):
Undergraduate Professional
Visiting Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Section Max Enrollment: 19
Section Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0 (Max 99) 
Current members of the waitlist have priority for available seats.
Enrollment data as of: 2-NOV-2026 7:58AM
 
Additional Fees: None
 
Final Exam: No Final Exam
 
Description: Have you ever wondered whether physics can provide a theory that describes everything as we know of the universe and reality itself? Every intellectual endeavor: physics, chemistry, biology, coming from a single theory? If so, this is for you! This course provides a conceptual and practical introduction to String Theory and Holographic Duality, one of the most surprising connections in modern theoretical physics. General Relativity describes gravity through the geometry of spacetime, while Quantum Mechanics describes nature at the smallest scales. Bringing these ideas together raises difficult questions, especially when we study black holes. String Theory offers a framework for quantum gravity in which the fundamental objects are vibrating strings rather than point particles. One of the remarkable ideas to emerge from String Theory is holographic duality, also known as gauge/gravity duality or the AdS/CFT correspondence. In certain settings, a theory of gravity is proposed to be equivalent to a quantum field theory in one fewer dimension. This means that a difficult problem involving strongly interacting quantum particles can sometimes be studied using gravity, and questions about black holes can be approached through a quantum theory without gravity!