The Adler-Bardeen non-renormalization is a basic property of anomalies with important physical implications, ranging from particle physics to condensed matter. We prove its validity in lattice models at a non-perturbative level, focusing in particular on fermion-vector boson models in 3+1 and 1+1 dimensions. The proof relies on regularity…

Recent B-meson data show a reinforced set of deviations from the Standard Model predictions, pointing to violations of lepton flavor universality. I will critically review these data and discuss their theoretical interpretation, including their possible connection to the hierarchical pattern of fermions masses and mixing angles. To this end, I…

Understanding the physics of living systems allows us to design new materials that are active and adaptive, akin to cells and tissues. Conversely, these active matter systems can reveal fundamental principles in physics and biology. In this talk, I will discuss three systems that feature this synergy, ranging from the molecular to the…

"On a background Minkowski spacetime, the relativistic Euler equations are known, for a relatively general equation of state, to admit unstable homogeneous solutions with finite-time shock formation. By contrast, such shock formation can be suppressed on background cosmological spacetimes whose spatial slices expand at an accelerated rate. The…

In this talk, we will discuss quantum corrections in the gravitational path integral around nearly 1/16-BPS black holes in asymptotically AdS5 x S5 space, dual to heavy operators in N=4 SYM. We argue these quantum corrections come from a version of the N=2 super-Schwarzian theory which captures the breaking of the SU(1,1|1) near horizon…

Please join us Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at 12:00 noon for the webinar featuring Prof. Anna Balazs of The University of Pittsburgh.

Registration is required for this webinar:  Registration form(link is external)

I will give an account of the recent progress in probability and in number theory to understand the large values of the zeta function on the critical line, especially in short intervals. The problems have interesting connections to statistical mechanics of disordered systems, both in their interpretations…

We study constraints from causality and unitarity on 2→2 graviton scattering in four-dimensional weakly-coupled effective field theories. Together, causality and unitarity imply dispersion relations that connect low-energy observables to high-energy data. Using such dispersion relations, we derive two-sided bounds on gravitational Wilson…

To understand computation in the brain, one needs to understand the input-output relationships for neural circuits and the anatomical and functional properties of individual neurons therein. Optical microscopy has emerged as an ideal tool in this quest, as it is capable of recording the activity of neurons distributed over millimeter dimensions…

Effective field theory provides a way of parameterizing strong-field deviations from General Relativity that might be observable in the gravitational waves emitted in a black hole merger. To perform numerical simulations of black hole mergers in such theories it is necessary that the equations be written in a form that admits a well-posed…

Registration is required. You can register using this form here(link is external).
All seminars are held on Wednesdays from 12:00 noon-1:00 p.m. in the Bowen Hall Auditorium Room 222. A light lunch is…

In this talk we explain recent results relating the six-vertex model and the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. In particular, we describe how the six-vertex model can be used to analyze stochastic interacting particle systems, such as asymmetric exclusion processes, and how infinite-volume pure…

I will review recent progress connecting (quantum) codes with two-dimensional conformal field theories of the Narain type. In the first part of the talk I will show how codes can be used to construct CFTs with large spectral gap. In the second part I will construct a map from a large class of rational Narain CFTs to quantum stabilizer codes.

With the advent of gravitational wave astronomy we are now in a perfect position to confront the multitude of beyond-GR theories, typically invoked to connect to quantum gravity paradigms, with observations in the strong-field regime of gravity.
A necessary ingredient to do so are theoretical models describing the…

In recent years we have witnessed the emergence of a novel description for the physics of scattering amplitudes at the heart of which are mathematical structures called Positive Geometries, which loosely speaking are generalizations of polytopes having the crucial feature of encoding in their boundaries the singularity structure of…