Research Activities 1991–2016

RIKEN Accel. Prog. Rep. 50 (2017)10 years of Theoretical Physics Laboratory
H. Kawai ∗1,∗2(4) Use of Fields and Strings

The Theoretical Physics Laboratory was establishedat the dawn of the new century, in October 2001, as theﬁrst laboratory in more than 30 years that is dedicatedpurely to theoretical studies, since the closure of theTheoretical Physics Laboratory headed by Dr. Hideki
Yukawa, Japan’s ﬁrst Nobel Laureate. That was thestart of my days of commuting between RIKEN andmy oﬃce in Kyoto University, which was previously
occupied by another Japanese Nobel Laureate, Dr.
Toshihide Maskawa.
Running a laboratory in RIKEN made a signiﬁcantchange in my research life, but RIKEN itself was also
about to go through a tremendous reshaping process.
One of such moves was the establishment of Nishina
Center for Accelerator-based Science, under the leadership of Dr. Yasushige Yano. At that time, we werestill struggling to establish the presence of theoretical studies in RIKEN. Then, Dr. Yano, who realized
the immense importance of theoretical study, invited
our group to form a research center together with theaccelerator groups and other laboratories for nuclear
physics. By securing our position in the framework ofNishina Center, we could establish our presence andalso the status of theoretical studies in RIKEN. Thisis how we started participating in the RIKEN Accelerator Progress Report. Although our participation as
the Theoretical Physics Laboratory was rather brief, Ibelieve we were able to contribute around 47 articles
to the Report.
It is my great honor, therefore, to contribute to thiscommemorative 50th issue of the RIKEN Accelerator
Progress Report. I would like to thank the editors of
the Report for kindly inviting me to write this entry.
Allow me to take this opportunity to present a brief
sketch of the activities that were took place at theTheoretical Physics Laboratory. First, the following
list of research subjects should give a certain idea ofthe scope of the activities of our group:• Phenomenology• Color Superconductivity
These achievements were only possible with the helpof Tsukasa Tada, Vice Chief Scientist, Makiko Nio,
Nishina Center Research Scientist, and the following
former members who have left RIKEN:
Masashi HayakawaAssociate Professor at Nagoya University
Hiroshi Suzuki
Professor at Kyushu University
Koji Hashimoto
after being Associate Chief Scientist, now Professor at Osaka University
Many young researchers, all of whom I cannot nameowing to the limitation of space, also contributed tothe activities of our group. At one point, our Laboratory accommodated eight Special Post-Doctoral Researchers.
Furthermore, researchers from all over the world visited us for presenting seminars or for collaborations.
The following list includes some of the prominent researchers who visited us:· Harry Lipkin· Antal Jevicki· Yuri Makeenko· Holger Nielsen

The following distinguished scientists also stayed at
our group for a prolonged period, most of them multiple times, to conduct their research activities and collaborations:· Toichiro Kinoshita· Al. Zamolodchikov· Ivan Kostov(1) String Theory as a Fundamental Theory• Holographic QCD• Black Hole Entropy(3) Dynamics of Fields• Lattice Theory• Higher-order QED∗2· Amihay Hanany· Avinash Dhar

Thus, one could say that the Theoretical Physics
Laboratory at RIKEN was beginning to establish
its presence in the international research community.
Although the Theoretical Physics Laboratory itself
ceased to exist, I hope its legacy has been passed on tothe current activities for theoretical studies at RIKEN.
To conclude, I would like to thank all the former
members of the Theoretical Physics Laboratory forparticipating in this undertaking. Special thanks go
to Dr. Kanetada Nagamine, who paved the way tomy position as an invited chief scientist at RIKEN. I
am also grateful to all the members of Nishina Center,
especially Dr. Yasushige Yano, the founding director,and Dr. Hideto En’yo, the succeeding incumbent.

• Matrix Models• Non-commutative Geometry• String Field Theory(2) Application of String Theory∗1· Herman Verlinde· M. Staudacher· J. Maharana· Robert Dijkgraaf

Chief Scientist of Theoretical Physics Laboratory (2001–2008)
Present address: Department of Physics, Kyoto University

S-73