In September 2001 newly appointed BU Prof. Dirk Kreimer and visiting Prof. Arthur Jaffe joined forces to build a center for Mathematical Physics at Boston University. Dirk Kreimer says "The research focus of the center is not the usual middle ground between mathematics and physics. Instead, we are building a center that stretches from physics to mathematics and all the excitement inbetween." Indeed, the research achievements of Jaffe and Kreimer perfectly exhibit the rich interplay between the frontiers of mathematics and those of physics.

Current research at the center involves the deep connections between the combinatorics of perturbative quantum field theory, number theory, knot theory, Alain Connes' non-commutative geometry and constructive quantum field theory.

The Center hosts seminar activities and has an extended visitor program. This years visitors include(d) mathematicians Alain Connes and Don Zagier, and physicists Ron Donagi and Christian Schubert. David Ellwood, a specialist in C*-algebra theory, will be a research fellow at the center this year and the Center will host a number of visiting research students. Last but not least, the center also plays host to a weekly seminar which is joint with Harvard and MIT.