Gia Dvali

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Georgi (Gia) Dvali (born 1964) is a professor of physics, and a member of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, at New York University. He received his Ph.D. in high energy physics and cosmology from Tbilisi State University, Georgia in 1992. Before joining the NYU faculty in 1998, he worked at two renowned international research centers: the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, and earlier at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. His major research interests are large extra dimensions, quantum gravity, and the very early universe. ^[1]

Dvali is best known for the ADD model, which he proposed together with Nima Arkani-Hamed and Savas Dimopoulos in 1998. It is a scenario inspired by string theory to explain the relative weakness of gravity to other forces, in which the Standard Model fields are confined to a (3+1)-dimensional membrane but gravity can also propagate in additional transverse spatial dimensions that are compact but may be as large as one-tenth of a millimeter. In this framework quantum gravity, string theory, and black holes may be experimentally investigated at the Large Hadron Collider.

Dvali's work also includes the large-distance modification of gravity and its application to the cosmological constant problem. With Gregory Gabadadze and Massimo Porrati he co-pioneered and advanced this direction by proposing a generally covariant model of infrared modification of gravity (the so-called DGP model), and studying many novel and subtle features of this class of models.

Dvali received New York City's Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology in 2000. ^[2]