Rate My Professor Mike Blake

Dr Mike Blake is an Associate Professor in Theoretical Physics in the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol. He holds a BA, MMath, and PhD. Blake began his research career at the University of Cambridge as a PhD student in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, followed by a Junior Research Fellowship at Churchill College. He then spent three years as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the University of Bristol, where he advanced to his current position.

A mathematical physicist at the intersection of high energy theory, gravity, and quantum physics, Blake uses quantum field theory and string theory techniques to study quantum many-body dynamics. His research centres on holography relating strongly coupled quantum field theories to black holes in anti-de Sitter space, scrambling and many-body chaos in holographic systems and quantum field theory, and connections between many-body chaos and hydrodynamics. He develops fundamental bounds on the propagation of chaos, entanglement, and quantum information in many-body systems. Blake is Principal Investigator on a UK Research and Innovation grant, EP/Y00468X, titled "Strongly Interacting Quantum Dynamics," under the Horizon Europe Scheme. In 2022, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth approximately 1.5 million euros to tackle challenges in the dynamics of strongly interacting quantum systems, including entanglement, chaos, and transport. He has produced 24 research outputs, including key publications such as "A quantum hydrodynamical description for scrambling and many-body chaos" (Journal of High Energy Physics, 2018), "Many-body chaos and energy dynamics in holography" (Journal of High Energy Physics, 2018), and "Thermal diffusivity and chaos in metals without quasiparticles" (Physical Review D, 2017). Blake co-organized the Royal Society's online scientific discussion meeting "New perspectives on quantum many-body chaos" in 2021 and welcomes PhD students interested in quantum field theory and holography.