Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., University of Chicago

Research Interests:

Dr. Neville is working on the quantization of general relativity, Einstein's Theory of Gravity. Quantization of gravity is needed in order to understand exotic Phenomena taking place at very short length scales or at high energies (the early universe, or the endpoint of black hole collapse). Quantization should also help in less exotic contexts, whenever the question involves short-distance behavior: what is the origin of mass? Why do some calculations in quantized electrodynamics lead to divergent results?

At the present time Dr. Neville is working with a reformulation of general relativity due to Ashtekar, who has introduced new variables which greatly simplify the equations of quantum general relativity. Ashtekar's approach also suggests that a gravitational field may be pictured as a set of gravitational flux lines which intersect and encircle each other. Information about the strength of the forces is encoded in these intersections and linkages. Dr. Neville is applying these ideas to the problem of quantizing gravity waves.

Selected Publications:

Physical Observables for Plane Gravitational Waves, D. Neville, Classical and Quantum Grav. 10, 2223-39 (1993).

0pen Flux Solutions to the Quantum Constraints for Plane Gravity Waves, D. Neville, Phys. Rev. D55, 766 (1997).

Closed Flux Solutions to the Quantum Constraints for Plane Gravity Waves, D. Neville, Phys. Rev. D55, 2069 (1997).

Total Intrinsic Spin for Plane Gravity Waves, D. Neville, Phys. Rev. D56, 3485 (1997).

Energy and Directional Signals for Plane Quantized Gravity Waves, D. Neville, Phys. Rev. D57, 986 (1998).

Long Range Correlations in Quantum Gravity, D. Neville, Phys. Rev. D59, 044032 (1999).