![\"SEN\"](\"http:\/\/myschool.in.com\/media\/content\/read\/2012\/Aug\/ashoke220120802114756189.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAshoke Sen has won the $3m (\u00a31.9m) Fundamental Physics Prize, the largest science award. Ashoke Sen is a rather reclusive Indian particle physicist working from at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute in Allahabad.<\/p>\n
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Sen is probably best known for the Sen conjecture; in string theory, tachyonic states imply an instability of the D-brane to which the (open) string is attached [2]. This means that the system decays to a stable set of closed strings or D-branes. The end product of this spontaneous decay is known as a tachyon condensate.<\/p>\n
These tachyon condensates were a very active area of research about a decade ago. As far as is known, Sen’s conjecture seems to be correct. <\/p>\n
Sen also made great contributions to the notion of S-symmetry in string theory [1]. This duality, also known as strong\u2013weak duality. An S-duality transformation maps states and vacua with coupling constant g in one theory (either a QFT or a string theory) to states and vacua with coupling constant 1\/g in the dual theory<\/em>. As this transformation maps strong coupling to weak coupling it allows perturbation theory to be applied to a strongly coupled theory.<\/p>\n Sen has 246 papers and preprints, of these 56 have over 100 citations*.<\/p>\n * http:\/\/inspirehep.net<\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n [1] Sen, Ashoke (1994). “Dyon – monopole bound states, selfdual harmonic forms on the multi – monopole moduli space, and SL(2,Z) invariance in string theory”. Phys. Lett.<\/em> B329<\/strong>: 217\u2013221. arXiv:hep-th\/9402032<\/p>\n [2] Sen, Ashoke (1998). “Tachyon condensation on the brane antibrane system”. JHEP<\/em> 8<\/strong>: 012. arXiv:hep-th\/9805170<\/p>\n Links<\/strong><\/p>\n BBC News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ashoke Sen has won the $3m (\u00a31.9m) Fundamental Physics Prize, the largest science award. Ashoke Sen is a rather reclusive Indian particle physicist working from at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute in Allahabad. Sen is probably best known for the Sen conjecture; in string theory, tachyonic states imply an instability of the D-brane to which the … Continue reading Fundamental Physics Prize for Ashoke Sen<\/span>