Physics

Charge transport near quantum critical points partly occur in phases with spontaneously broken symmetries. In an effective field theory approach, this transport can be described in a hydrodynamic theory with Goldstone modes encoding the broken...

I will describe a large ensemble of compactifications of type IIB string theory on Calabi-Yau threefold hypersurfaces, obtained by triangulating polytopes from the Kreuzer-Skarke list. We have developed methods to compute effective theories in the...

In this talk we revisit the holographic calculation of 1/2-BPS four-point functions from IIB supergravity compactified on $AdS_3\times S^3\times K3$. I will present evidence that the four-point functions exhibit a hidden 6d conformal symmetry. Using...

Motivated by an apparent counterexample to the Weak Gravity Conjecture, I will describe the difference between black hole extremality bounds and BPS bounds and (relatedly) the difference between superextremal particles and self-repulsive particles...

Every CFT in dimensions greater than two contains an infinite set of Regge trajectories of local operators which, at large spin, asymptote to "double-twist" composites with vanishing anomalous dimension. In two dimensions, due to the existence of...

I will discuss the contribution of higher-genus surfaces in JT gravity. In work with Saad and Shenker, we use Mirzakhani's recursion and work of Eynard and Orantin to show that these contributions exactly coincide with the genus expansion of a...

I will review the perturbative (genus) expansion of one-matrix integrals via the loop equations, and the streamlined version due to Eynard. I will review double-scaled matrix integrals and discuss a heuristic method for computing some...

Light scalar dark matter fields can exhibit several interesting aspects to their cosmological evolution. I will focus mostly on structure formation with ultralight axions and with the QCD axion. The standard scenario leads to a suppression of...

Infinite-dimensional conformal symmetry in two dimensions equips 2d CFTs with an integrable structure - an infinite tower of quantum KdV charges in involution. I will discuss the role of this integrable structure in constraining thermalization and...