James Wheeler's Homepage | james.c.wheeler@duke.edu
I am...
A Student of Physics and Mathematics
I am a graduate student at Duke University working under Dr. Hubert Bray, currently seeking an academic position to transition into following the completion of my PhD this Spring. Though a student of the physics department, I have a deep interest in mathematics and its utility in precisely describing the fundamentals of physics. My research interests currently include the fundamentals of classical General Relativity, including singularities and black holes, and dark matter cosmology. More generally, I am passionate about understanding the role mathematics plays in physics and the rigor of our most basic theories of the universe at all scales.
Publications & Preprints
An Inquisitive Researcher
Understanding Singularities
I'm interested in General Relativity's cosmic censorship conjectures and have done a bit of work informing the status of the Weak formulation.
Defining Black Holes
After feeling something was missing from the standard characterization of black holes, I've taken a stab at formulating a different means of defining these objects in a general spacetime.
Modeling the Big Bang
I am interested in the characterization of Dark Matter and currently investigating influences of scalar field dark matter in Cosmology. The flavor of this work-in-progress can be obtained from my preliminary examination report (Image credit).
A Dedicated Instructor
Though I have much yet to learn myself, I take great joy in imparting knowledge and helping others to see the order inherent in our descriptions of physics and its various associated mathematical tools. I have taught in a myriad of roles for both the physics and math departments at Duke, and I received the physics department's Outstanding Physics Teaching Assistant Award in both 2021 and 2022.
See my CV for a complete record of my teaching history.
You may also find my math/physics stackexchange profiles here.
"I loved the TA who taught my discussion-- he was so clear about why we were doing what we were doing, exactly how equations got derived, and creative and efficient ways to solve difficult problems."
- PHYS 151 (Mechanics) -
These are a few collections of lecture notes associated to talk series I've given at our physics and math departments' Dirac talks, a weekly chalk talk club comprised of graduate students and faculty oriented towards the intersection of mathematics and physics, which demonstrate some of my interests (be forewarned: only the first set is TeXed).