Archive of IAS Monday High Energy Theory Seminars

Mar
24
2025

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Local Operator Algebras of Charged States in Gauge Theory and Gravity
Massimo Porrati
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: Powerful techniques have been developed in quantum field theory that employ algebras of local operators, yet local operators cannot create physical charged states in gauge theory or physical nonzero-energy states in perturbative quantum...

Mar
17
2025

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

AI in Math and Theoretical Physics: Status and Prospects
Michael Douglas
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: AI progress is accelerating, and now the leaders expect “artificial general intelligence” (AGI) in 2 to 3 years. While difficult to believe, we must prepare for the possibility. We can take some lessons from previous episodes in which...

Mar
10
2025

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Kinematic Flow and the Emergence of Time
Guilherme Pimentel
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: I will start with a broad overview of the theory of initial conditions of the universe, what we know and what we hope to know in the near future.

Then I will describe some recent work. Motivated by precision calculations in primordial...

Feb
10
2025

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Cobordism Utopia
Jonathan Heckman
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: On general grounds one expects that global symmetries are absent in quantum gravity. We discuss some aspects of this issue, focusing on the recently proposed Swampland Cobordism Conjecture, and related conjectures connected with...

Jan
27
2025

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Energy Correlators in QFT, Particle Physics and Gravity
Ian Moult
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: Correlation functions of the average null energy operator provide direct theoretical models of collider experiments, and have played a crucial role in contemporary developments in formal QFT and gravity. Recently it has become possible to...

Dec
16
2024

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Holographic Cosmology in 2+1 Dimensions
Alexander Maloney
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: In the search for simple, solvable models of quantum cosmology it is useful to focus on general relativity in 2+1 dimensions, where - due to the absence of local degrees of freedom - there is some hope that we can say something precise.  I...

Nov
25
2024

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

The Path to an Energy Frontier Muon Collider
Mark Palmer
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: Muon colliders offer a unique path to multi-TeV, high-luminosity lepton collisions. Muon collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 10 TeV or above would offer significant discovery potential where the constituent collision energies exceed...

Nov
18
2024

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Matroids and Amplitudes
Thomas Lam
2:30pm|Wolfensohn Hall & Zoom

Abstract: Matroids are combinatorial abstractions of the notion of linear independence. They are one of the main objects studied in the current special year in the School of Mathematics. I will talk about a notion of scattering amplitudes for...

Oct
28
2024

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Cosmological Tensions and Dark Sectors to Explain Them
Martin Schmaltz
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: This talk will discuss what's new with some of the most interesting looking cosmological tensions: the Hubble tension, the growth of structure tension (S8, growth rate, Lyman Alpha) and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (Lithium and Deuterium)...

Oct
14
2024

IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Candidate de Sitter Vacua
Richard Nally
2:30pm|Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Abstract: We construct compactifications of type IIB string theory that yield, at leading order in the α ′ α ′ and g s g s expansions, de Sitter vacua of the form envisioned by Kachru, Kallosh, Linde, and Trivedi. We specify explicit Calabi-Yau...