Prof. Christopher Beem

BS, MS, MA, PhD

Status

Academic Faculty

Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Mathematical Institute

Official Fellow and Tutor in Mathematics, St. John's College

+44 1865 615112

Contact form

https://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/beem/

ORCID iD

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8820-2835

Research groups

Mathematical Physics

Address

Mathematical Institute
University of Oxford
Andrew Wiles Building
Radcliffe Observatory Quarter
Woodstock Road
Oxford
OX2 6GG

Highlighted publications

More N=4 superconformal bootstrap

Beem, C Rastelli, L van Rees, B Physical Review D volume 96 issue 4 046014 (25 Aug 2017)

Deformation Quantization and Superconformal Symmetry in Three Dimensions

Beem, C Peelaers, W Rastelli, L Communications in Mathematical Physics volume 354 issue 1 345-392 (20 Feb 2017)

Research interests

Quantum field theory, conformal field theory, supersymmetry, and string theory. Algebraic structures occurring in each of the above.

Teaching

In the 2025-2026 academic year I am lecturing B7.3 Further Quantum Theory. In the past I have also lectured String Theory I for the Master's programme in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics, the Part A Special Relativity short option, and a graduate course on vertex operator algebras.

At St. John's I tutor physical applied courses, including Geometry, Dynamics, Differential Equations, Part A Geometry, and Projective Geometry.

Recent publications

Twisted \texorpdfstring{$A_{2N}$}{A(2N)} Argyres--Douglas theories: vertex algebras, Higgs branches, and double covers

Beem, C Kulkarni, H (21 Sep 2026) https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.25212v1

Towards a classification of graded unitary W3 algebras

Beem, C Kulkarni, H Journal of High Energy Physics volume 2026 issue 7 83 (09 Jul 2026)

Graded unitarity in the SCFT/VOA correspondence

Ardehali, A Beem, C Lemos, M Rastelli, L Journal of High Energy Physics volume 2026 issue 6 (05 Jun 2026)

On the semi-infinite cohomology of graded-unitary vertex algebras

Beem, C Garner, N Journal of Algebra (01 Mar 2026)

Towards a classification of graded unitary ${\mathcal W}_3$ algebras

Beem, C Kulkarni, H (17 Feb 2026) https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.15944v2

Simplifying the type A Argyres-Douglas landscape

Beem, C Martone, M Sacchi, M Singh, P Stedman, J Journal of High Energy Physics volume 2025 issue 12 (18 Dec 2025)

On the semi-infinite cohomology of graded-unitary vertex algebras

Beem, C Garner, N (12 Sep 2025) https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10364v1

Graded Unitarity in the SCFT/VOA Correspondence

Ardehali, A Beem, C Lemos, M Rastelli, L (31 Jul 2025)

Free field realisation of boundary vertex algebras for Abelian gauge theories in three dimensions

Beem, C Communications in Mathematical Physics volume 406 issue 5 (29 Apr 2025)

Free field realizations for rank-one SCFTs

Beem, C Deb, A Martone, M Meneghelli, C Rastelli, L Journal of High Energy Physics volume 2024 issue 12 (03 Dec 2024)

Prizes, awards, and scholarships

Principle Investigator in the Simons Collaboration for the Nonperturbative Bootstrap 2016-2023

ERC Consolidator Grant "Algebraic Foundations of Supersymmetric Quantum Field Theory" 2020-2026