Special Seminar Speaker: Mayuko Yamashita, Kyoto University Title: Topological modular forms and heretoric string theory Abstract: In this talk I will explain my works with Y. Tachikawa to study anomaly in heterotic string theory via homotopy theory, especially the theory of Topological Modular Forms (TMF). TMF is an E-infinity ring spectrum which is conjectured by […]
Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar Pre-talk Speaker: Kai Xu (CMSA): 10:00-10:30 am Speaker: Kai Xu (CMSA) Title: Motivic decomposition of moduli space from brane dynamics Abstract: Supersymmetric gauge theories encode deep structures in algebraic geometry, and geometric engineering gives a powerful way to understand the underlying structures by string/M theory. In this talk we will see […]
Speaker: Yu-Shen Lin (Boston University) Title: Gravitational Instantons Abstract: Gravitational instantons were introduced by Hawking as building blocks of his Euclidean quantum gravity theory back in the 1970s. These are non-compact Calabi-Yau surfaces with L2 curvature and thus can be viewed as the non-compact analogue of K3 surfaces. K3 surfaces are 2-dimensional Calabi-Yau manifolds and […]
General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Chethan Krishnan (IISc Bangalore) Title: A Smooth Horizon without a Smooth Horizon Abstract: I will talk about some work that is about to appear, where we note one precise way in which the stretched horizon can simulate a smooth horizon. I will also make an effort to put things in some perspective (brickwalls, […]
CMSA Q and A Seminar Speakers: Dan Freed (Harvard Math & CMSA) and Dan Berwick-Evans (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Topics: Dan Freed: What is framing anomaly? How is it different from other anomalies? Dan Berwick-Evans: What is Atiyah-Singer index theorem?
https://youtu.be/7sA3r5M1oT8 <strong>Topological Quantum Matter Seminar</strong> <strong>Speaker:</strong> Ho Tat Lam, MIT <strong>Title:</strong> Dipolar and modulated symmetry protected topological phases <strong>Abstract:</strong> Modulated symmetries are symmetries whose symmetry generators exhibit spatial modulations. We will discuss one-dimensional symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases protected by modulated symmetries. We will present a simple recipe for constructing modulated SPT models by generalizing the […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Benjamin McKenna Title: Random matrices and large deviations Abstract: We give a generalist overview of random matrices and their (a)typical behaviors. In recent years, classical results have been complemented by a variety of new ones, in both the math and physics literatures, whose proofs leverage connections with special integrals over matrix groups. Some of these […]
General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Maria Rodriguez (Utah) Title: Tidal Squeezing of Black Holes Abstract: Recent developments indicate that Kerr black holes do not deform when perturbed by a static external gravitational field. Relying on hidden symmetries, compelling progress has been achieved to explain that Love numbers for Kerr black holes vanish. How does the phenomenon of tidal squeezing manifest in broader […]
CMSA Q and A Seminar Speakers: Dan Freed (Harvard Math and CMSA) and Sunghyuk Park (CMSA) Topics: Dan Freed: What is Dijkgraaf-Witten theory? Sunghyuk Park: What happened at the Clay Math Institute Workshop?
https://youtu.be/u-pkmdkQoMU New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Alex Gu, MIT Dept. of EE&CS Title: LeanDojo: Theorem Proving with Retrieval-Augmented Language Models Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) have shown promise in proving formal theorems using proof assistants such as Lean. However, existing methods are difficult to reproduce or build on, due to private code, data, and large compute […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Seth Koren (Notre Dame) Title: Non-invertible symmetries, leptons, quarks, and why multiple generations Abstract: Generalized global symmetries are present in theories of particle physics, and understanding their structure can give insight into these theories and UV completions thereof. After discussing the generalized symmetries of the Standard Model, we will go Beyond and show […]
Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Fred MacKintosh (Rice University) Title: Contractility, structure formation and fluctuations in active gels, with and without molecular motors Abstract: Various processes in living cells depend on contractile forces that are often generated by myosin motors in concert with polar actin filaments. A textbook example of this is the actomyosin contractile ring that […]