String Theory Group at YMSC

← Back to Postdocs

Jack Holden

Postdoctoral Fellow, Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, Tsinghua University

Basic Information

Email: jholden (at) tsinghua.edu.cn
Office: Shuangqing Complex Building C552

Research Areas

High-energy physics and string theory.

Education

2014-2018, Theoretical Physics, Durham University.
2018-2019, Mathematics, University of Cambridge.
2019-2023, Ph.D. in Physics, University of Southampton.

Research Summary

Jack Holden works on strongly coupled gauge theories and large-N dynamics, with an emphasis on phases that are difficult to see in perturbation theory. His recent work on partial deconfinement, confinement, Wilson loops, and random-matrix structures studies how gauge theories reorganize their degrees of freedom at finite temperature, finite density, or strong coupling. More recent projects connect these ideas to AdS/CFT with flavor and to BPS black-hole phases, where instanton condensation and holomorphic mass deformations provide concrete mechanisms for new phases.

Representative Publications

V. Gautam, M. Hanada, J. Holden, E. Rinaldi, “Linear confinement in the partially-deconfined phase,” JHEP 03 (2023) 195, arXiv:2208.14402.
M. Hanada, J. Holden, M. Knaggs, A. O'Bannon, “Global symmetries and partial confinement,” JHEP 03 (2022) 118, arXiv:2112.11398.