Archive of IAS Monday High Energy Theory Seminars

Abstract: Quantum critical points usually separate two distinct phases of matter. Here I will discuss a class of "unnecessary" quantum critical points that lie within a single phase of matter (much like the liquid-gas transition, except that they...

Abstract: I will describe constructions of lattice field theories that assign a single bosonic variable to each site, rather a conjugate pair x,p. The information to realize a non-trivial dynamics is realized by non-trivial Poisson brackets between...

Abstract: I will describe the one-loop partition function for strings propagating on AdS3 geometries with NS-NS flux (for generic values of AdS radius in string units). The essential ingredients that go into this analysis have been known for a while...

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: 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...

Abstract: String stars, or Horowitz-Polchinski solutions, are string theory saddles with normalizable condensates of thermal-winding strings. In the past, string stars were offered as a possible description of stringy (Euclidean) black holes in...

Abstract: M- and F-theory compactifications with ADE singularities give rise to non-abelian ADE gauge symmetries. The physical explanation for this phenomenon involves M2-branes wrapped on vanishing cycles. We consider an alternative approach which...

Abstract: Instantons are an important source of nonperturbative effects in quantum field theories, but their role in asymptotically free theories has not been well understood. In this talk, we will present a new approach to instanton analysis in the...