Physics

Recently, an exact AdS3/CFT2 duality was proposed. String theory on AdS3xS3xT4 with one unit of pure NS-NS background flux was conjectured to be dual to the symmetric product orbifold of T4. This is established at the level of the full spectrum of...

We review some infinite dimensional symmetries that appear in dimensionally reduced classical general relativity. Reducing from d=4 to d=2 gives a two dimensional nonlinear sigma model with an infinite dimensional affine Kac-Moody symmetry called...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

This talk will review the structure of closed superstring scattering amplitudes with particular emphasis on the constraints imposed by various dualities. This leads to precise determination of the coefficients of low order terms in the low energy...