Colloquium

Tanmay Vachaspati is a theoretical physicist working at the intersection of particle physics, astrophysics, general relativity, and cosmology. He has written extensively on topological defects with an emphasis on cosmic strings, and on the generation, evolution, and observation of primordial magnetic fields. In addition he has made important advances in the study of cosmological inflation, black holes and magnetic monopoles, and has authored the monograph "Kinks and Domain Walls: an introduction to classical and quantum solitons". Vachaspati obtained his doctorate in 1985 from Tufts University and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Delaware and Cambridge University. He has held faculty positions at Tufts University, Case Western Reserve University, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Washington University and University of Maryland. He was Rosenbaum Fellow at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and is Fellow of the American Physical Society. He joined Arizona State University in 2010 where he is Professor of Physics and Director of the Cosmology Initiative.