Professor Toledano Laredo was awarded a three-year National Science Foundation grant for his research in Representation Theory (the mathematical study of symmetry) and Mathematical Physics.

The project, titled “Exponential periods, bispectrality, and affine quantum groups” will allow Professor Toledano to further his study of the relation between quantum groups, which are deformations of the basic symmetries of Nature, and a number of differential equations which arise in Mathematical Physics. Of particular relevance are the Yang-Baxter equations, which are a cornerstone of Statistical Mechanics (the study of the relation between the microscopic and macroscopic behavior of physical systems such as ice), the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations, which were discovered in String Theory, and the Casimir equations, which Professor Toledano co-discovered in 1999.

Professor Toledano’s research has been continuously funded by the NSF since his moving to Northeastern in 2006. This $285K grant puts his total grant income just above the $1M bar.