To some, physics may be a daunting subject, but for Colgate University senior Christopher Gross, physics is an invitation to explore some of the most extreme and mysterious phenomena in the entire universe. Using a framework called Anti-de-Sitter Space/Conformal Field Theory correspondence, Gross studies how a higher-dimensional model of spacetime can be used to explain the behavior of extremely hot, dense matter such as quark-gluon plasma. By applying this approach, his thesis explores how properties such as viscosity and energy transfer emerge in these extreme systems — think black hole cores and particle accelerators — offering a new way to study phenomena that are far too complex to study directly.
Gross traced his initial interest in physics back to a fundamental curiosity about how the world around him.
“I like understanding the beauty of nature and the fundamental laws of reality,” Gross said. “I think it’s all very interesting to be able to learn about how the world works.”
For Gross, this curiosity is rooted in a simple instinct.
“I like seeing patterns. That’s probably why I do physics, I think. There are a lot of patterns in life, and seeing those things is pretty cool,” Gross said.
This mindset shapes how Gross approaches how even the most complex ideas of reality itself can be simplified.
“An interesting thing, or a weird thing about reality, is that everything’s either a pendulum or a spring — it can all be broken down into simple components,” Gross said.
Gross credited much of his academic inspiration to Visiting Professor in Physics and Astronomy Laura Early. It was initially her own thesis on mathematical black holes and their one-on-one discussions during office hours that led him to his project.
“I took thermodynamics with [Professor Early] — that was the first class she taught here, too, and I really enjoyed her teaching me because of how she is as a person. I feel like we connected well,” Gross said. “I would go into her office hours and ask about her thesis, and she said, ‘I worked on mathematical black holes’, so I was like, ‘That sounds pretty sick.’”
Gross’ thesis dove into advanced theoretical physics, exploring the relationship between gravity and quantum mechanics through holography, a concept that links different dimensions of reality. However, despite the complexity of these topics, Gross wanted to make a point of explaining these subjects in an accessible manner. In order to do this, he often uses vivid and playful analogies. One of his analogies was through the example of his childhood bookmark, featuring a Tyrannosaurus rex, to explain four-dimensional spacetime as looking at a hologram on a two-dimensional surface.
“It’s a little complicated, taking something and looking at it through a different lens of reality,” Gross said. “With the bookmark, I’d move it from left to right. In one, he’s just chilling, but when you flip, there’s a lightning strike, and he’s roaring, and it’s really cool.”
The shifting images, he explained, mirror how physicists think about higher dimensions.
“It’s the exact premise in this field with the sense of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. We’re able to use that theory to look at the small microparticle world of quantum field theory,” Gross said.
In other words, holography allows scientists to understand complex systems by translating them into a familiar framework.
“I think holography is a beautiful thing, and how we’re able to take two entirely different fields of physics, and apply one to the other, and extract solutions,” Gross said.
One phenomenon that has piqued Gross’s interest is the behavior of superfluids, which are materials that go against our everyday expectations.
“You have water, and it can’t climb out of a bowl, right? Superfluids can. They don’t lose kinetic energy because they experience no internal friction or resistance from surfaces. So we want to understand: why does it do that? Why does it behave like this weird kind of superfluid?” Gross said.
These unusual behaviors provide a testing ground for the theories he writes about and offer real-world examples of the abstract concepts.
Completing this thesis was no small task. Gross had only a single semester to absorb countless papers and even teach himself general relativity, a course he regrets not taking in full due to its relevance to his thesis. Still, even with time constraints limiting how deeply he could explore his topic, he found the senior thesis experience to be incredibly rewarding and unique.
After graduation, Gross will continue his studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he plans to pursue a master’s degree in nuclear engineering. He had a parting message for Colgate students still unsure about a major.
“Join physics,” Gross said. “Everyone needs to get into physics.”
