IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

There are a few well-known ways for quantum mechanical, many-body systems to avoid coming to thermal equilibrium. For example, we know of two classes of systems -- integrable systems, and many-body localized systems -- for which conservation laws...

I will discuss properties of phases of matter in systems with a global U(1) symmetry and a (possibly discrete) translation symmetry. The low energy theory of such systems is strongly constrained by these symmetries. I will give a framework to...

I will motivate and discuss the notion of dispersive sum rules in conformal field theory. They are sum rules satisfied by the OPE data of a four-point function as a consequence of conformal dispersion relations. Physically, they are a detailed...

Abstract: I will demonstrate that holographic error correcting codes naturally give rise to conditional expectations acting on the local operator algebras in the boundary theory. I will use this to give simple derivations of some previously known...

In conformal field theory, in contrast to gapped theories, S-matrix is not well-defined. Similarly, various inclusive observables which make sense in a gapped theory, such as "energy squared" calorimeters, suffer from IR divergences in CFTs. Using...

I discuss string theory on AdS3xS3xT4 in the tensionless limit, with one unit of NS-NS flux. This theory is conjectured to be dual to the symmetric product orbifold CFT. I show how to compute the full string partition function on various locally...

Over the last decade it has become clear that there is a close connection between the BPS sector of N=2 supersymmetric field theories in four dimensions and the exact WKB method for analysis of ordinary differential equations (Schrodinger equations...

I will present enhanced corrections to the entanglement entropy of a subsystem in holographic states. These corrections appear near phase transitions in the entanglement entropy due to competing extremal surfaces, and they are holographic avatars...

I will describe and explore the consequences of a newly identified physical phenomenon: volumetric stellar emission into gravitationally bound orbits of weakly coupled particles such as axions, moduli, hidden photons, and neutrinos. While only a...

We present a class of Hamiltonians H for which a sector of the Hilbert space invariant under a Lie group G, which is not a symmetry of H, possesses the essential properties of many-body scar states. These include the absence of thermalization and...