Video Lectures

A dark matter candidate lighter than about 30 eV exhibits wave behavior in a typical galactic environment. Examples include the QCD axion as well as other axion-like-particles. We review the particle physics motivations, and discuss experimental and...

One of the key objectives of modern astrophysics is to understand the formation and evolution galaxies. In this regard, the Milky Way is a critical testing ground for our theories of galaxy formation. However, dissecting the assembly history of the...

  Spacetime wormholes have played an important role in recent progress in black hole physics. However, in the context of AdS/CFT, these wormholes lead to a basic puzzle: the "factorization problem", introduced by Maldacena and Maoz. In this talk we...

High-precision astrometric data from space observatories, such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Gaia, are revolutionizing our ability to study the Local Group. 6D phase space measurements (3-dimensional position and velocity) now make it...

Black holes create the most extreme gravitational fields imaginable, and therefore offer a unique and unprecedented opportunity to test our current understanding of gravity. We've known about the existence of black holes in space for many years but...

Debris disks are signposts of mature planetary systems, and resolved images of dust grains act like test particles that trace the dynamics of embedded planets. I will describe ongoing efforts with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array...

We show that a naïve application of the quantum extremal surface (QES) prescription can lead to paradoxical results and must be corrected at leading order. The corrections arise when there is a second QES (with strictly larger generalized entropy at...

There are a few well-known ways for quantum mechanical, many-body systems to avoid coming to thermal equilibrium. For example, we know of two classes of systems -- integrable systems, and many-body localized systems -- for which conservation laws...

Why do many stars host close-in chains of super-Earths? Why are eccentric gas giants found in some inner planetary systems? What determines which of these outcomes will occur around a particular star? I will present a possible framework for...