We review some infinite dimensional symmetries that appear indimensionally reduced classical general relativity. Reducing from d=4to d=2 gives a two dimensional nonlinear sigma model with an infinitedimensional affine Kac-Moody symmetry called the Geroch group.Further reducing to d=1 (along a null Kill vector)…
We review some infinite dimensional symmetries that appear indimensionally reduced classical general relativity. Reducing from d=4to d=2 gives a two dimensional nonlinear sigma model with an infinitedimensional affine Kac-Moody symmetry called the Geroch group.Further reducing to d=1 (along a null Kill vector)…
We study the effect of ZZ instantons in c = 1 string theory, and demonstrate that they give rise to non-perturbative corrections to closed string scattering amplitudes that do not saturate unitarity within the closed string sector. Beyond the leading non-perturbative order,…
The asymptotic symmetry algebra of asymptotically flat spacetimes implies an infinity of conserved charges for 4D scattering which can be neatly recast as 2D conformal Ward identities. We cover recent progress on the proposed 4D/2D dictionary starting from the conformally soft modes that appear as currents and…
I will review some old ideas about the duality between matrix models and Liouville theory coupled to a (p,q) minimal model. In this approach t'Hooft diagrams of the matrix model are thought of as a discretization of a 2d surface. Fine-tuning of the coupling constant leads to divergence of the perturbative expansion…
When absorbing boundary conditions are used to evaporate a black hole in AdS/CFT, we show that there is a phase transition in the location of the quantum Ryu-Takayanagi surface, at precisely the Page time. The new RT surface lies slightly inside the event horizon, at an infalling time approximately one scrambling…
In this talk, I will discuss the idea that the exact one-loop free energy of the static patch of D-dimensional de Sitter space can be computed as a simple integral transform of an SO(1;D) bulk character corrected by an SO(1; D-2) edge character, for fields of arbitrary mass and spin. The bulk character captures the…
The EHT Collaboration has recently published images of the supermassive black hole in M87. The images are dominated by a bright ring-like structure with an angular brightness asymmetry. While the diameter of this ring is resolved by the EHT, its thickness and detailed substructure are not. General relativity…
String theory on AdS3xS3xT4 with one unit of NSNS flux has been recently argued to be dual to the symmetric product orbifold of T^4. The duality has been extended to the case of generic NSNS background flux. I will consider the bosonic version of this duality and show how to match null-vector constraints on three…
Abstract: Lifshitz scaling is an anisotropic scaling where time and space scale differently. Quantum field theories that exhibit Lifshitz scale symmetry provide a framework for studying low energy systems with an emergent dynamic scaling such as quantum critical points. Introducing supersymmetry to the Lifshitz algebra leads to a rich structure…
Gauge/gravity duality relates certain strongly coupled CFTs with large effective central charge to semi-classical gravitational theories with AdS asymptotics. I will describe recent progress in understanding gravity duals for CFTs on non-trivial spacetimes with black hole horizons. Such gravity methods provide…
My talk is devoted to studies of large N saddle point structures in the SYK model beyond the commonly used approximations, in particular the replica-diagonal assumption and the conformal limit. We will discuss new solutions of the saddle point equations in the SYK and their role in physics of the model and in the gravity dual description. We…
We review a recent geometric formulation of the tree-level S-matrix of various quantum field theories, including gauge and gravity theories, in terms of intersection numbers of twisted cohomology groups on the moduli space of genus-zero curves with marked points. Scattering amplitudes are computed in terms of…
I will discuss recent progress about the Cardy-like asymptotics of 4d supersymmetric index on S^3, also known as superconformal index. The main observation is that Bose-Fermi cancellation that trivializes the asymptotic expression of the index can be obstructed by complexifying chemical potentials. Applied to N=4…
I will discuss walking behavior in gauge theories and weakly first order phase transition in statistical models. Despite being phenomena appearing in very different physical systems, they both show a region of approximate scale invariance. They can be understood as a RG flow passing between two fixed points living at complex couplings, which we…
In this talk, based on work with S. Gubser, Z. Ji, B. Trundy, and A. Yarom, I present a scalar theory described by an action given in terms of a bi-local integral of a power law factor, with an exponent parameter s, multiplied by the squared arc length between points on the target manifold. Depending on the choice of s and of dimension, the…
Hydrodynamics has been recently reformulated as an effective field theory based on an underlying Schwinger-Keldysh partition function. After an introduction to the formalism, I will show how effective actions of this type can be derived from holography using a mixed signature bulk spacetime whereby an eternal asymptotically anti-de Sitter black…
Critical points of classical second-order phase transitions are thermodynamic phenomena of particular interest, driven by thermal fluctuations and characterized by emergent scale invariance and universal power-law correlations. At zero temperature quantum fluctuations can similarly drive sharp phase transitions between qualitatively distinct…
I will discuss new universal bounds on the spectra of two-dimensional unitary, compact conformal field theories coming from the modular bootstrap. In the presence of a twist gap amongst the Virasoro primary operators (where twist is defined as the difference between total conformal dimension and spin), I will show that there is a universal…
By Year
By Category
- Astroparticle Seminar
- Atomic Physics Seminar
- Biophysics Seminar
- Condensed Matter Seminar
- Dark Cosmo Seminar
- Distinguished Lecture Series
- Donald R. Hamilton Colloquium
- Donald R. Hamilton Lecture
- Equity Diversity and Inclusion Initiative
- FPO
- Gravity Group Seminar
- Gravity Initiative Seminar
- High Energy Experiment Seminar
- High Energy Theory Seminar
- Mathematical Physics Seminar
- Particle Physics Seminar
- PCTS Seminar
- Phenomenology Seminar
- Princeton Quantum Colloquium
- Quantum Initiative
- Special Event
- Special Seminar
- Statistical Mechanics Seminar