High Energy Theory Seminar

Moonshine in mathematics originally referred to unexpected connections between the modular J function and the representation theory of the Monster, the largest sporadic finite group. Recently new kinds of moonshine have been discovered connecting other sporadic groups such as the Mathieu group M24 and Thompson'ssporadic group to the mock theta functions of Ramanujan and to weight 1/2 modular forms.I will discuss common themes in these moonshine observations as well as important outstanding questions.