The search for low-dimensional topological superconductivity is fueled by the promise of new and exotic physics, such as chiral superconductivity and non-Abelian anyons. However, the need to break time-reversal symmetry, usually by applying a relatively large external magnetic field, has hindered the realization of these novel phases of matter…

A long standing problem in lattice QCD is to construct an explicit instanton density operator on the lattice. We introduce such a construction, after suitably refining the lattice Yang-Mills action, so that it captures the continuum Yang-Mills theory better than the traditional lattice Yang-Mills action does. This refinement needed follows…

I give new results for  “gravastars'', which are horizonless compact objects that closely mimic mathematical black holes in their exterior geometry,  but for which g_{00} is always positive.  They result from  solving the  Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff  (TOV) equations for relativistic stellar structure, which require…

I will describe the correlators of fermion bilinears in the n-flavor massless Schwinger model. These are exactly calculable generalized free theories. For n > 1, there is a massive particle and a conformal sector. I have argued that in the n = 2 theory, very special mass terms can be added to introduce interactions…

We consider a model of Parisi where a single particle hops on an infinite-dimensional hypercube, under the influence of a uniform but disordered magnetic flux.  We reinterpret the hypercube as the Fock-space graph of a many-body Hamiltonian, and the flux as a frustration of the return amplitudes in Fock space. We…

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope is a ground-based CMB survey that has mapped half the millimeter sky at significantly higher resolution and sensitivity than the Planck satellite. I will present new ACT results from a 9400 sq.deg. gravitational lensing mass map, including constraints on the amplitude of matter fluctuations as well as the Hubble…

Studying non-abelian anyons is exciting due to their unique braiding statistics. The 5/2 quantum Hall state has been long proposed to host such localized quasiparticles in the 2D bulk. Resting on ‘bulk-edge’ correspondence, their gapless edge modes are expected to mirror the topological order of the 5/2 quantum state. Supporting an odd number…

The actomyosin cytoskeleton is a naturally occurring active gel found in virtually all mammalian cells. Its ability to contract allows cells to move, change shape, exert force, sense stiffness, and maintain constant tension. In order for the “hardware” of actomyosin gels to support such a diverse set of mechanical tasks, it is tightly coupled…

In this talk, I present different machine learning and data driven techniques that produce measurements of stellar kinematics around the Milky Way, and relate them to our understanding of Dark Matter. More specifically, I will discuss a data driven technique applied to Gaia DR3 combined with Apogee data to produce the circular velocity…

The concept that there may exist symmetries relating bosons and fermions was first proposed by Yuri Golfand and Evgeny Likhtman in 1971 and independently realized by Julius Wess and Bruno Zumino in 1974. Thus, was born the topic of ‘supersymmetry’ and the speaker will highlight the triumphs and tragedies of this yet to be observationally…

The theory of General Relativity has successfully passed a large number of observational tests. The theory has been extensively tested in the weak-field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. The past 5-6 years have seen significant advancements in the study of the strong-field regime, which can now be…

Much attention has been given to systems of interacting Bosons in the dilute regime, where powerful theoretical tools such as Bogolyubov theory give detailed and accurate predictions. In this talk, I will discuss a different approach to studying the ground state of Boson systems, which Carlen, Lieb and I have recently found to be accurate at…