Prof. Francis Brown

Arithmetic algebraic geometry and quantum field theory.

I am currently working on a `Galois theory of periods' and its applications. Periods are a class of transcendental numbers defined by integrals which includi pi and values of the Riemann zeta function at positive integers. A deep conjecture of Grothendieck predicts the existence of a linear algebraic group acting on such numbers.

Applications include: the study of mixed modular motives (iterated extensions of motives of modular forms) coming from the fundamental group of the moduli space of elliptic curves, and a new Galois group of symmetries of particle-scattering amplitudes in high-energy physics.