Physics

Abstract: The Miura transformation is a powerful formalism to construct generators of vertex operator algebras in free field representation. In this talk, I will explain that Miura operators are R-matrices of a certain quantum algebra, and comment...

Abstract: I will give an informal discussion of the bulk Hilbert space of JT gravity with and without matter, based on 2403.08696. 

Abstract: I will introduce two new families of critical string theories in two dimensions and explain that, when viewed as two-dimensional quantum gravity on the worldsheet, each is equivalent to a matrix model. The first worldsheet string theory...

Abstract: In 2022, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration revealed the first images of the shadow of our Milky Way supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Since its detection in the mid-70s, this bright radio source in the Galactic...

Abstract: Recently it has been shown that black holes decohere quantum superpositions in their exterior, and suggested that this may be of fundamental importance for their quantum description [arXiv:2205.06279, arXiv:2301.00026, arXiv:2311.11461]. ...

Abstract: Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) consist of a set of regularly monitored millisecond pulsars with extremely stable rotational periods. The arrival time of pulses can be altered by the passage of gravitational waves (GWs) between them and the...

Abstract: Stellar streams, the tidal remnants of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies orbiting throughout the Milky Way’s halo, are some of the most powerful tools in the study of near-field cosmology. In particular, they are sensitive probes of the...

Abstract: In this talk, I will review a simple derivation of an integral kernel formula for the partition function of T Tbar deformed CFT based on the holographic single trace T Tbar deformation and its generalization to J Tbar and J Jbar...

Abstract: The gravitational perturbations of a rotating Kerr black hole are notoriously complicated, even at the linear level. In 1973, Teukolsky showed that their physical degrees of freedom are encoded in two gauge-invariant Weyl curvature scalars...

Abstract: Holographic tensor networks model AdS/CFT, but so far they have been limited by involving only systems that are very different from gravity. Unfortunately, we cannot straightforwardly discretize gravity to incorporate it, because that...