Physics

Abstract: We will discuss excitations with large spin and/or large particle number. For conformal theories this corresponds to investigating particular trajectories of heavy operators. 

We find trajectories with large approximate degeneracy and show...

Abstract: The Schwinger model of two-dimensional quantum electrodynamics is among the oldest and best-studied quantum field theories, and is attracting renewed interest in connection with simulations of quantum lattice Hamiltonians. I will discuss...

Abstract: I will review the status of the duality between type II string theory on $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$ and a specific N=(4,4) supersymmetric 2d CFT. I will begin by reviewing the understanding of this theory from the late '90s, from the...

Abstract: We study the partition function of 3D de Sitter gravity defined as the trace over the Hilbert space obtained by quantizing Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime. Motivated by the correspondence with double scaled SYK, we identify the...

Abstract: In gravity, spacelike separated regions can be dependent on each other due to the constraint equations. I my talk, I will propose a natural definition of subsystem independence in classical gravity.  Next, I show that extremal surfaces...

Abstract: A decade of work in band theory has built towards an understanding of topology that is largely based on the character theory of the space group. The (thousands of) topological materials predicted in this way provide a diverse set of...

Abstract: I will give a lightning review of results on this subject from 1988-1998 and then describe more recent developments, mostly current work in progress.  First, I will describe topological twisting of Lagrangian N=2 d=4 field theories in...

Abstract: The connection between 3d pure gravity and Chern-Simons theory has been proposed and studied for decades. In this talk, I will give a brief review of the works 2304.13650 and 2401.13900 with Scott Collier and Lorenz Eberhardt, where we...

Abstract: As well known, mesons with large spin J in large NcQCD can be described as rotating open strings using effective field theory (EFT). However, some subtleties arise for light quarks, due to the breakdown of the derivative expansion near the...

Abstract: Conformal Field Theory (CFT) represents a class of quantum field theories that has profound applications across various physics domains, from critical phenomena in statistical mechanics to quantum matter, quantum gravity, and string theory...