Samuel S. Y. Wong

Samuel S. Y. Wong

Physics PhD Student

I am a first-year physics PhD student at Stanford University. I am interested in high energy theory.

I graduated from the specialist program in mathematics and physics at the University of Toronto in 2020. During my undergraduate career, I conducted research in quantum field theory with Erich Poppitz, studying a model of color confinement. I have also performed research in experimental particle physics (with Bob Orr) and galactic astronomy (with Jo Bovy).

I graduated from Markham District High School in 2016, with the honors of receiving the Governor General's Academic Medal for graduating at the top of my class. I am also a 2014 alumni of Shad Valley, a Canadian science summer program.

Outside of physics and math, my hobbies include chess, Go, science fiction, jogging, and badminton. My favorite book is The Three-Body Problem.

My Recent Life (expand for older events)

Oct 19, 2020 ------ I gave a presentation on QFT in curved spacetime for a seminar class.

Oct 12, 2020 ------ I wrote a new paper with Mathew Bub and Erich Poppitz, based on this past summer project, titled "Confinement and Double-String Collapse," arxiv.org/abs/2010.04330.

Sep 18, 2020 ------ I started a rotation research project with Professor Peter Graham on dark photon.

Sep 4, 2020 ------ I moved to Stanford, California, USA to start my physics PhD.

Aug 28, 2020 ------ I completed my summer job in confining string research.

Jun 2, 2020 ------ I officially graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Science Degree, Mathematics and Physics Specialist, with High Distinction. The graduation ceremony was virtual due to the pandemic.

May 11, 2020 ------ I started a summer job continuing my senior thesis project on confining string tensions with Erich Poppitz. This work is done remotely due to the pandemic.

May 6, 2020 ------ Professor Erich Poppitz gave a talk (remotely) at Harvard based on the paper I collaborated with him.

Apr 22, 2020 ------ I presented my final project on the Einstein-Rosen bridge for my general relativity class.

Mar 27, 2020 ------ I presented my senior thesis on confining string tensions for my research course oral exam.

Mar 13, 2020 ------ I accepted Stanford's PhD offer.

Feb 11, 2020 ------ I was admitted to the physics PhD program at Stanford University.

Jan 15, 2020 ------ I gave a talk on the quark decofinement project at the weekly T-HEP seminar at my school.

Jan 10, 2020 ------ I helped my research group with numerically solving axion domain walls, and the paper appears on arXiv today, where I was mentioned in the acknowledgements section.

Dec 11, 2019 ------ I was invited to give a talk at the weekly T-HEP seminar at my school on Jan 15. This will be my first professional talk (beyond the undergraduate level).

Dec 7, 2019 ------ I published my first paper based on my summer project on quark confinement. It is titled "Domain Walls and Deconfinement: A Semiclassical Picture of Discrete Anomaly Inflow," written with Andrew Cox and Erich Poppitz.

Dec 2, 2019 ------ I received my first citation.

Nov 8, 2019------ I gave a talk at the 2019 Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference at McGill University.

Sep 20, 2019 ------ I created this website.