Eva Silverstein


Eva Silverstein is an American theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and string theorist. She is best known for her work on early universe cosmology, developing the structure of inflation and its range of signatures, as well as extensive contributions to string theory and gravitational physics. Her early work included control of tachyon condensation in string theory and resulting resolution of some spacetime singularities. Other significant research contributions include the construction of the first models of dark energy in string theory, some basic extensions of the AdS/CFT correspondence to more realistic field theories, as well as the discovery of a predictive new mechanism for cosmic inflation involving D-brane dynamics which helped motivate more systematic analyses of primordial non-Gaussianity.
Silverstein is a professor of physics at Stanford University and director of the Modern Inflationary Cosmology collaboration within the Simons Foundation Origins of the Universe initiative.

Education

Silverstein's primary research areas include cosmic inflation, namely the creation of predictive and testable new mechanisms which have enabled systematic understanding of the process and the role of ultraviolet-sensitive qualities in observational cosmology ; implications of long-range interactions in string theory for black hole physics; and mechanism development for breaking super-symmetry and stabilising the extra dimensions of string theory

Personal

Raised in Spokane, Washington, Silverstein is the daughter of Harry S. and Lorinda Knight Silverstein and graduated from Lewis and Clark High School. Her father is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Washington State University in Pullman.
Silverstein is married to fellow string theorist Shamit Kachru; both were doctoral students of Edward Witten.