Events and Activities

Explore current and upcoming events and activities happening at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Feb
11
2026

Servery Dinner

5:30pm

Make a reservation via open table
Gourmet dinner is limited to Institute Members, Faculty, Staff, Friends of the Institute, and their guests.

Feb
11
2026

Mathematical Conversations

Lost in a Rough Flow
6:00pm|Simons Hall Dilworth Room

A Lipschitz velocity field gives a reassuring picture of particle motion: each starting point traces a single, well-defined trajectory. But many velocity fields arising in geometry, kinetic theory, and fluid dynamics are far rougher, and then the...

Feb
12
2026

IAS Quantum Aspects of Black Holes Group Meeting

The Phase of de Sitter Higher Spin Gravity
11:00am|Bloomberg Hall Physics Library & Zoom

Abstract: I will first review the derivation of Polchinski's phase for massless higher spin fields on the sphere.

Then I will show that, in appropriate regularization schemes, the total phase of Vasiliev's higher spin gravity theory vanishes.

Feb
12
2026

Institute for Advanced Study Astrophysics Seminar

Theory for innovative cosmological tests of dark matter-baryon interactions
Yacine Ali-Haimoud
11:00am|Bloomberg Lecture Hall

Among many things, dark matter could be made of new fundamental or composite particles, which may feebly interact with nuclei or electrons (“baryons”), as well as with themselves. Cosmological observables are a promising avenue to test such...

Feb
12
2026

Princeton University Thunch Talk

LEO VLBI Pathfinder: Capturing the first video of a black hole
Victoria Fawcett
12:00pm|Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Grand Central

Abstract: On April 10, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope captured the world’s imagination with the first direct image of a black hole. LEO VLBI Pathfinder is a SmallSat mission led by Brown University which seeks to take the next leap: Capturing the...

Feb
12
2026

Special Year Research Seminar

Log-Noetherian Functions
1:00pm|Simonyi 101

I'll talk about the o-minimal structures R_LN and R_{LN,exp} where one has an effective form of the finiteness property of o-minimality. Unlike the more classical structure of Pfaffian function, R_{LN,exp} contains the period integrals for aribtrary...

Feb
12
2026

Joint IAS/PU Number Theory

Kudla's Modularity Conjecture
3:30pm|Simonyi 101 and Remote Access

Kudla and Millson proved in the 80's that the generating series of special cycles in orthogonal and unitary Shimura varieties are modular forms and a well-established conjecture of Kudla asks about extensions to toroidal compactifications. In this...

Feb
12
2026

Princeton University Donald R. Hamilton Colloquium Series

Supernova Explosion Theory: The Emergence of Insight from Complexity
Adam Burrows
4:00pm|Jadwin Hall A-10

Abstract: The theory of compact-object birth and core-collapse supernovae is now entering a new and productive phase of rapid insight into themechanism and systematics of explosion. The panoramic perspective provided by the recent access to tens of...