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SUMMARY:Strongly Correlated Quantum Materials and High-Temperature Superconductors Series
DESCRIPTION:In the 2020-2021 academic year\, the CMSA will be hosting a lecture series on Strongly Correlated Materials and High Tc Superconductor. All talks will take place from 10:30-12:00pm ET virtually on Zoom. \nCuprate high-temperature superconductors are a classic quantum material system to demonstrate the beauty of “Emergence and Entanglement” in the quantum phases of matter. Merely by adding more holes into an antiferromagnetic insulator\, several fascinating phases emerge\, including a d-wave superconductor\, a pseudo-gap metal\, and strange metal. After intensive studies from experimental\, theoretical\, and numerical communities for more than three decades\, remarkable progress has been made\, but basic questions remain: \n\nWhat is the origin of the superconductivity? What are the relative contributions of electron-phonon coupling\, spin fluctuations\, or resonating-valence-bonds?\nHow do we explain the pseudo-gap and the Fermi arc in the underdoped region above the critical temperature? Are they from some symmetry breaking order parameters\, or do we need an unconventional picture involving fractionalization?\nIs the strange metal at optimal doping associated with a quantum critical point? And if so\, what is the driving force of this phase transition?\n\nThe cuprate quantum materials have been a major source for many new concepts in modern condensed matter physics\, such as quantum spin liquids\, topological order\, and non-Fermi liquids. In the coming years\, it is clear that the study of the cuprates will continually motivate new concepts and development of new techniques. In this seminar series\, we hope to accelerate this process by bringing together deeper conversations between experimental\, theoretical\, and numerical experts with different backgrounds and perspectives. \nThe Strongly Correlated Quantum Materials and High-Temperature Superconductors series is a part of the Quantum Matter in Mathematics and Physics seminar. \nSeminar organizers: Juven Wang (Harvard CMSA) and Yahui Zhang (Harvard). \nScientific program advisors: Professor Subir Sachdev (Harvard)\, Professor Patrick Lee (MIT). \nIn order to learn how to attend this series\, please fill out this form. \nFor more information\, please contact Juven Wang (jw@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu) and Yahui Zhang (yahui_zhang@g.harvard.edu) \nSpring 2022\nApril 20\, 2022 | 11:30 – 1:00 pm ET \nHarold Y. Hwang (Stanford University & SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) \nTitle: Superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates \nAbstract: Since its discovery\, unconventional superconductivity in cuprates has motivated the search for materials with analogous electronic or atomic structure. We have used soft chemistry approaches to synthesize superconducting infinite layer nickelates from their perovskite precursor phase. We will present the synthesis and transport properties of the nickelates\, observation of a doping-dependent superconducting dome\, and our current understanding of their electronic and magnetic structure. \n\nFebruary 3\, 2022 | 11:30 – 1:00 pm ET \nLu Li (U Michigan) \nTitle: Quantum Oscillations of Electrical Resistivity in an Insulator \nAbstract: In metals\, orbital motions of conduction electrons are quantized in magnetic fields\, which is manifested by quantum oscillations in electrical resistivity. This Landau quantization is generally absent in insulators\, in which all the electrons are localized. Here we report a notable exception in an insulator — ytterbium dodecaboride (YbB12). The resistivity of YbB12\, despite much larger than that of usual metals\, exhibits profound quantum oscillations under intense magnetic fields. This unconventional oscillation is shown to arise from the insulating bulk instead of conducting surface states. The large effective masses indicate strong correlation effects between electrons. Our result is the first discovery of quantum oscillations in the electrical resistivity of a strongly correlated insulator and will bring crucial insight into understanding the ground state in gapped Kondo systems. \n2020 – 2021\nSeptember 2\, 2020 | 10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSubir Sachdev (Harvard) \nTitle: Metal-to-metal quantum phase transitions not described by symmetry-breaking orders \nAbstract: Numerous experiments have explored the phases of the cuprates with increasing doping density p from the antiferromagnetic insulator. There is now strong evidence that the small p region is a novel phase of matter\, often called the pseudogap metal\, separated from conventional Fermi liquid at larger p by a quantum phase transition. Symmetry-breaking orders play a spectator role\, at best\, at this quantum phase transition. I will describe trial wavefunctions across this metal-metal transition employing hidden layers of ancilla qubits (proposed by Ya-Hui Zhang). Quantum fluctuations are described by a gauge theory  of ghost fermions that carry neither spin nor charge. I will also\ndescribe a separate approach to this transition in a t-J model with random exchange interactions in the limit of large dimensions. This approach leads to a partly solvable SYK-like critical theory of holons and spinons\, and a linear in temperature resistivity from time reparameterization fluctuations. Near criticality\, both approaches have in common emergent fractionalized excitations\, and a significantly larger entropy than naively expected. \nVideo\n\n\n\n\nSeptember 23\, 2020 | 10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSubir Sachdev (Harvard) \nTitle: Metal-to-metal quantum phase transitions not described by symmetry-breaking orders II \nAbstract: In this second talk\, I will focus on (nearly) solvable models of metal-metal transition in random systems. The t-J model with random and all-to-all hopping and exchange can be mapped onto a quantum impurity model coupled self-consistently to an environment (the mapping also applies to a t-J model in a large dimension lattice\,  with random nearest-neighbor exchange). Such models will be argued to exhibit metal-metal quantum phase transitions in the universality class of the SYK model\, accompanied by a linear-in-T resistivity from time reparameterization  fluctuations. I will also present the results of exact diagonalization of random t-J clusters\, obtained recently with Henry Shackleton\, Alexander Wietek\, and Antoine Georges. \nVideo\n\n\n\n\nSeptember 24\, 2020 | 12:00pm ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInna Vishik (University of California\, Davis)\n\nTitle: Universality vs materials-dependence in cuprates: ARPES studies of the model cuprate Hg1201Abstract: The cuprate superconductors exhibit the highest ambient-pressure superconducting transition temperatures (T c )\, and after more than three decades of extraordinary research activity\, continue to pose formidable scientific challenges. A major experimental obstacle has been to distinguish universal phenomena from materials- or technique-dependent ones. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measures momentum-dependent single-particle electronic excitations and has been invaluable in the endeavor to determine the anisotropic momentum-space properties of the cuprates. HgBa 2 CuO 4+d (Hg1201) is a single-layer cuprate with a particularly high optimal T c and a simple crystal structure; yet there exists little information from ARPES about the electronic properties of this model system. I will present recent ARPES studies of doping-\, temperature-\, and momentum-dependent systematics of near-nodal dispersion anomalies in Hg1201. The data reveal a hierarchy of three distinct energy scales which establish several universal phenomena\, both in terms of connecting multiple experimental techniques for a single material\, and in terms of connecting comparable spectral features in multiple structurally similar cuprates.Video\n\n\n\n\nOctober 15\, 2020 | 10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLouis Taillefer (Université de Sherbrooke) \nTitle: New signatures of the pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors \nAbstract: The pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors is arguably the most enigmatic phase of quantum matter. We aim to shed new light on this phase by investigating the non- superconducting ground state of several cuprate materials at low temperature across a wide doping range\, suppressing superconductivity with a magnetic field. Hall effect measurements across the pseudogap critical doping p* reveal a sharp drop in carrier density n from n = 1 + p above p* to n = p below p\, signaling a major transformation of the Fermi surface. Angle-dependent magneto-resistance (ADMR) directly reveals a change in Fermi surface topology across p. From specific heat measurements\, we observe the classic thermodynamic signatures of quantum criticality: the electronic specific heat C el shows a sharp peak at p\, where it varies in temperature as C el ~ – T logT. At p and just above\, the electrical resistivity is linear in T at low T\, with an inelastic scattering rate that obeys the Planckian limit. Finally\, the pseudogap phase is found to have a large negative thermal Hall conductivity\, which extends to zero doping. We show that the pseudogap phase makes phonons become chiral. Understanding the mechanisms responsible for these various new signatures will help elucidate the nature of the pseudogap phase. \nVideo\n\n\n\n\nOctober 28\, 2020 | 10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPatrick Lee (MIT) \nTitle: The not-so-normal normal state of underdoped Cuprate \nAbstract: The underdoped Cuprate exhibits a rich variety of unusual properties that have been exposed after years of experimental investigations. They include a pseudo-gap near the anti-nodal points and “Fermi arcs” of gapless excitations\, together with a variety of order such as charge order\, nematicity and possibly loop currents and time reversal and inversion breaking. I shall argue that by making a single assumption of strong pair fluctuations at finite momentum (Pair density wave)\, a unified description of this phenomenology is possible. As an example\, I will focus on a description of the ground state that emerges when superconductivity is suppressed by a magnetic field which supports small electron pockets. [Dai\, Senthil\, Lee\, Phys Rev B101\, 064502 (2020)] There is some support for the pair density wave hypothesis from STM data that found charge order at double the usual wave-vector in the vicinity of vortices\, as well as evidence for a fragile form of superconductivity persisting to fields much above Hc2. I shall suggest a more direct experimental probe of the proposed fluctuating pair density wave. \nVideo\n\n\n\n\nNovember 6\, 2020 |12:30pm ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nZhi-Xun Shen (Stanford University) \nTitle: Essential Ingredients for Superconductivity in Cupper Oxide Superconductors \nAbstract: High‐temperature superconductivity in cupper oxides\, with critical temperature well above what wasanticipated by the BCS theory\, remains a major unsolved physics problem. The problem is fascinating because it is simultaneously simple ‐ being a single band and 1⁄2 spin system\, yet extremely rich ‐ boasting d‐wave superconductivity\, pseudogap\, spin and charge orders\, and strange metal phenomenology. For this reason\, cuprates emerge as the most important model system for correlated electrons – stimulating conversations on the physics of Hubbard model\, quantum critical point\, Planckian metal and beyond.\nCentral to this debate is whether the Hubbard model\, which is the natural starting point for the undoped\nmagnetic insulator\, contains the essential ingredients for key physics in cuprates. In this talk\, I will discuss our photoemission evidence for a multifaceted answer to this question [1‐3]. First\, we show results that naturally points to the importance of Coulomb and magnetic interactions\, including d‐wave superconducting gap structure [4]\, exchange energy (J) control of bandwidth in single‐hole dynamics [5]. Second\, we evidence effects beyond the Hubbard model\, including band dispersion anomalies at known phonon frequencies [6\, 7]\, polaronic spectral lineshape and the emergence of quasiparticle with doping [8]. Third\, we show properties likely of hybrid electronic and phononic origin\, including the pseudogap [9‐11]\, and the almost vertical phase boundary near the critical 19% doping [12]. Fourth\, we show examples of small q phononic coupling that cooperates with d‐wave superconductivity [13‐15]. Finally\, we discuss recent experimental advance in synthesizing and investigating doped one‐dimensional (1D) cuprates [16]. As theoretical calculations of the 1D Hubbard model are reliable\, a robust comparison can be carried out. The experiment reveals a near‐neighbor attractive interaction that is an order of magnitude larger than the attraction generated by spin‐superexchange in the Hubbard model. Addition of such an attractive term\, likely of phononic origin\, into the Hubbard model with canonical parameters provides a quantitative explanation for all important experimental observable: spinon and holon dispersions\, and holon‐ holon attraction. Given the structural similarity of the materials\, It is likely that an extended two‐dimensional\n(2D) Hubbard model with such an attractive term\, will connect the dots of the above four classes of\nexperimental observables and provide a holistic understanding of cuprates\, including the elusive d‐wave superconductivity in 2D Hubbard model. \n[1] A. Damascelli\, Z. Hussain\, and Z.‐X. Shen\, Review of Modern Physics\, 75\, 473 (2003)\n[2] M. Hashimoto et al.\, Nature Physics 10\, 483 (2014)\n[3] JA Sobota\, Y He\, ZX Shen ‐ arXiv preprint arXiv:2008.02378\, 2020; submitted to Rev. of Mod. Phys.\n[4] Z.‐X. Shen et al.\, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70\, 1553 (1993)\n[5] B.O. Wells et al.\, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74\, 964 (1995)\n[6] A. Lanzara et al.\, Nature 412\, 510 (2001)\n[7] T. Cuk et al.\, Phys. Rev. Lett.\, 93\, 117003 (2004)\n[8] K.M. Shen et al.\, Phys. Rev. Lett.\, 93\, 267002 (2004)\n[9] D.M. King et al.\, J. of Phys. & Chem of Solids 56\, 1865 (1995)\n[10] D.S. Marshall et al.\, Phy. Rev. Lett. 76\, 484 (1996)\n[11] A.G. Loeser et al.\, Science 273\, 325 (1996)\n[12] S. Chen et al.\, Science\, 366\, 6469 (2019)\n[13] T.P. Devereaux\, T. Cuk\, Z.X. Shen\, N. Nagaosa\, Phys. Rev. Lett.\, 93\, 117004 (2004)\n[14] S. Johnston et al.\, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108\, 166404 (2012)\n[15] Yu He et al.\, Science\, 362\, 62 (Oct. 2018)\n[16] Z. Chen\, Y. Wang et al.\, preprint\, 2020 \nVideo\n\n\n\n\nNovember 12\, 2020 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChandra Varma (Visting Professor\, University of California\, Berkeley.\nEmeritus Distinguished Professor\, University of California\, Riverside.)Title: Loop-Current Order and Quantum-Criticality in CupratesThis talk is organized as follows:\n1. Physical Principles leading to Loop-current order and quantum criticality as the central feature in the physics of Cuprates.\n2. Summary of the essentially exact solution of the dissipative xy model for Loop-current fluctuations.\n3. Quantitative comparison of theory for the quantum-criticality with a variety of experiments.\n4. Topological decoration of loop-current order to understand ”Fermi-arcs” and small Fermi-surface magneto-oscillations.Time permitting\,\n(i) Quantitative theory and experiment for fluctuations leading to d-wave superconductivity.\n(ii) Extensions to understand AFM quantum-criticality in heavy-fermions and Fe-based superconductors.\n(iii) Problems.Video\n\n\n\n\nNovember 18\, 2020 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAntoine Georges (Collège de France\, Paris and Flatiron Institute\, New York) \nTitle: Superconductivity\, Stripes\, Antiferromagnetism and the Pseudogap: What Do We Know Today about the 2D Hubbard model? \nAbstract: Simplified as it is\, the Hubbard model embodies much of the complexity of the `strong correlation problem’ and has established itself as a paradigmatic model in the field. In this talk\, I will argue that several key aspects of its physics in two dimensions can now be established beyond doubt\, thanks to the development of controlled and accurate computational methods. These methods implement different and complementary points of view on the quantum many-body problem. Along with pushing forward each method\, the community has recently embarked into a major effort to combine and critically compare these approaches\, and in several instances a consistent picture of the physics has emerged as a result. I will review in this perspective our current understanding of the emergence of a pseudogap in both the weak and strong coupling regimes. I will present recent progress in understanding how the pseudogap phase may evolve into a stripe-dominated regime at low temperature\, and briefly address the delicate question of the competition between stripes and superconductivity. I will also emphasize outstanding questions which are still open\, such as the possibility of a Fermi surface reconstruction without symmetry breaking. Whenever possible\, connections to the physics of cuprate superconductors will be made. If time permits\, I may also address the question of Planckian transport and bad metallic transport at high temperature. \nVideo\n\n\n\n\nNovember 19\, 2020 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEduardo Fradkin (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) \nTitle: Pair Density Waves and Intertwined Orders in High Tc Superconductors\n\nAbstract: I will argue that the orders that are present in high temperature superconductors naturally arise with the same strength and are better regarded as intertwined rather than competing. I illustrate this concept in the context of the orders that are present in the pair-density-wave state and the phase diagrams that result from this analysis. \nVideo\n\n\n\n\nNovember 25\, 2020 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQimiao Si (Rice University) \nTitle: Bad Metals and Electronic Orders – Nematicity from Iron Pnictides to Graphene Moiré Systems \nAbstract: Strongly correlated electron systems often show bad-metal behavior\, as operationally specified in terms of a resistivity at room temperature that reaches or exceeds the Mott-Ioffe-Regel limit. They display a rich landscape of electronic orders\, which provide clues to the underlying microscopic physics. Iron-based superconductors present a striking case study\, and have been the subject of extensive efforts during the past decade or so. They are well established to be bad metals\, and their phase diagrams prominently feature various types of electronic orders that are essentially always accompanied by nematicity. In this talk\, I will summarize these characteristic features and discuss our own efforts towards understanding the normal state through the lens of the electronic orders and their fluctuations. Implications for superconductivity will be briefly discussed. In the second part of the talk\, I will consider the nematic correlations that have been observed in the graphene-based moiré narrow-band systems. I will present a theoretical study which demonstrates nematicity in a “fragile insulator”\, predicts its persistence in the bad metal regime and provides an overall perspective on the phase diagram of these correlated systems.\n\n\n\n\nDecember 2\, 2020 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAndrey Chubukov (University of Minnesota) \nTitle: Interplay between superconductivity and non-Fermi liquid at a quantum critical point in a metal \n\nAbstract:  I discuss the interplay between non-Fermi liquid behaviour and pairing near a quantum-critical point (QCP) in a metal. These tendencies are intertwined in the sense that both originate from the same interaction mediated by gapless fluctuations of a critical order parameter. The two tendencies compete because fermionic incoherence destroys the Cooper logarithm\, while the pairing eliminates scattering at low energies and restores fermionic coherence. I discuss this physics for a class of models with an effective dynamical interaction V (Ω) ~1/|Ω|^γ (the γ-model). This model describes\, in particular\, the pairing at a 2D Ising-nematic critical point in (γ=1/3)\, a 2D antiferromagnetic critical point (γ=1/2) and the pairing by an Einstein phonon with vanishing dressed Debye frequency (γ=2). I argue the pairing wins\, unless the pairing component of the interaction is artificially reduced\, but because of fermionic incoherence in the normal state\, the system develops a pseudogap\, preformed pairs behaviour in the temperature range between the onset of the pairing at Tp and the onset of phase coherence at the actual superconducting Tc. The ratio Tc/Tp decreases with γ and vanishes at γ =2. I present two complementary arguments of why this happens. One is the softening of longitudinal gap fluctuations\, which become gapless at γ =2. Another is the emergence of a 1D array of dynamical vortices\, whose number diverges at γ =2. I argue that once the number of vortices becomes infinite\, quasiparticle energies effectively get quantized and do not get re-arranged in the presence of a small phase variation. I show that a new non-superconducting ground state emerges at γ >2.\n\n\n\n\nDecember 9\, 2020 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Hsieh (Caltech) \nTitle:  Signatures of anomalous symmetry breaking in the cuprates   \nAbstract: The temperature versus doping phase diagram of the cuprate high-Tc superconductors features an enigmatic pseudogap region whose microscopic origin remains a subject of intensive study. Experimentally resolving its symmetry properties is imperative for narrowing down the list of possible explanations. In this talk I will give an overview of how optical second harmonic generation (SHG) can be used as a sensitive probe of symmetry breaking\, and recap the ways it has been used to solve outstanding problems in condensed matter physics. I will then describe how we have been applying SHG polarimetry and spectroscopy to interrogate the cuprate pseudogap. In particular\, I will discuss our data on YBa2Cu3Oy [1]\, which show an order parameter-like increase in SHG intensity below the pseudogap temperature T* across a broad range of doping levels. I will then focus on our more recent results on a model parent cuprate Sr2CuO2Cl2 [2]\, where evidence of anomalous broken symmetries surprisingly also exists. Possible connections between these observations will be speculated upon.\n[1] L. Zhao\, C. A. Belvin\, R. Liang\, D. A. Bonn\, W. N. Hardy\, N. P. Armitage and D. Hsieh\, “A global inversion-symmetry-broken phase inside the pseudogap region of YBa2Cu3Oy\,” Nature Phys. 13\, 250 (2017). \n[2] A. de la Torre\, K. L. Seyler\, L. Zhao\, S. Di Matteo\, M. S. Scheurer\, Y. Li\, B. Yu\, M. Greven\, S. Sachdev\, M. R. Norman and D. Hsieh. “Anomalous mirror symmetry breaking in a model insulating cuprate Sr2CuO2Cl2\,” Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06516\n\n\n\n\nDecember 16\, 2020 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nZheng-Yu Weng (Tsinghua University) \nTitle: Organizing Principle of Mottness and Complex Phenomenon in High Temperature Superconductors\n\nAbstract: The complex phenomenon in the high-Tc cuprate calls for a microscopic understanding based on general principles. In this Lecture\, an exact organizing principle for a typical doped Mott insulator will be presented\, in which the fermion sign structure is drastically reduced to a mutual statistics. Its nature as a long-range spin-charge entanglement of many-body quantum mechanics will be exemplified by exact numerical calculations. The phase diagram of the cuprate may be unified in a “bottom-up” fashion by a “parent” ground state ansatz with hidden orders constructed based on the organizing principle. Here the pairing mechanism will go beyond the “RVB” picture and the superconducting state is of non-BCS nature with modified London equation and novel elementary excitations. In particular\, the Bogoliubov/Landau quasiparticle excitation are emerging with a two-gap structure in the superconducting state and the Fermi arc in a pseudogap regime. A mathematic framework of fractionalization and duality transformation guided by the organizing principle will be introduced to describe the above emergent phenomenon.\n\n\n\n\nDecember 17\, 2020 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSteven Kivelson (Stanford University) \nTitle: What do we know about the essential physics of high temperature superconductivity after one third of a century? \nAbstract: Despite the fact that papers submitted to glossy journals universally start by bemoaning the absence of theoretical understanding\, I will argue that the answer to the title question is “quite a lot.” To focus the discussion\, I will take the late P.W. Anderson’s “Last Words on the Cuprates” (arXiv:1612.03919) as a point of departure\, although from a perspective that differs from his in many key points.\n\n\n\n\nJanuary 20\, 2021 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThomas Peter Devereaux (Stanford University) \nTitle:  Numerical investigations of models of the cuprates\n\nAbstract: Richard Feynman once said “Anyone who wants to analyze the properties of matter in a real problem might want to start by writing down the fundamental equations and then try to solve them mathematically. Although there are people who try to use such an approach\, these people are the failures in this field. . . ” \nI will summarize efforts to solve microscopic models of the cuprates using quantum Monte Carlo and density matrix renormalization group computational methods\, with emphasis on how far one can get before failing to describe the real materials. I will start with an overview of the quantum chemistry of the cuprates that guides our choices of models\, and then I will discuss “phases” of these models\, both realized and not. I will lastly discuss the transport properties of the models in the “not-so-normal” regions of the phase diagram.\n\n\n\n\nFebruary 3\, 2021 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhilip Phillips (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) \nTitle: Beyond BCS: An Exact Model for Superconductivity and Mottness\n\nAbstract: High-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates remains an unsolved problem because the cuprates start off their lives as Mott insulators in which no organizing principle such a Fermi surface can be invoked to treat the electron interactions. Consequently\, it would be advantageous to solve even a toy model that exhibits both Mottness and superconductivity. Part of the problem is that the basic model for a Mott insulator\, namely the Hubbard model is unsolvable in any dimension we really care about. To address this problem\, I will start by focusing on the overlooked Z_2 emergent symmetry of a Fermi surface first noted by Anderson and Haldane. Mott insulators break this emergent symmetry. The simplest model of this type is due to Hatsugai/Kohmoto. I will argue that this model can be thought of a fixed point for Mottness. I will then show exactly[1] that this model when appended with a weak pairing interaction exhibits not only the analogue of Cooper’s instability but also a superconducting ground state\, thereby demonstrating that a model for a doped Mott insulator can exhibit superconductivity. The properties of the superconducting state differ drastically from that of the standard BCS theory. The elementary excitations of this superconductor are not linear combinations of particle and hole states but rather are superpositions of doublons and holons\, composite excitations signaling that the superconducting ground state of the doped Mott insulator inherits the non-Fermi liquid character of the normal state. Additional unexpected features of this model are that it exhibits a superconductivity-induced transfer of spectral weight from high to low energies and a suppression of the superfluid density as seen in the cuprates.\n[1] PWP\, L. Yeo\, E. Huang\, Nature Physics\, 16\, 1175-1180 (2020).\n\n\n\n\nFebruary 10\, 2021 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSenthil Todadri (MIT) \nTitle: Strange metals as ersatz Fermi liquids: emergent symmetries\, general constraints\, and experimental tests \nAbstract: The strange metal regime is one of the most prominent features of the cuprate phase diagram but yet has remained amongst the most mysterious. Seemingly similar metallic behavior is seen in a few other metals. In this talk\, I will discuss\, in great generality\, some properties of `strange metals’ in an ideal clean system. I will discuss general constraints[1] on the emergent low energy symmetries of any such strange metal. These constraints may be viewed as a generalization of the Luttinger theorem of ordinary Fermi liquids. Many\, if not all\, non-Fermi liquids will have the same realization of emergent symmetry as a Fermi liquid (even though they could have very different dynamics). Such phases – dubbed ersatz Fermi liquids – share some (but not all) universal properties with Fermi liquids. I will discuss the implications for understanding the strange metal physics observed in experiments . Combined with a few experimental observations\, I will show that these general model-independent considerations lead to concrete predictions[2] about a class of strange metals. The most striking of these is a divergent susceptibility of an observable that has the same symmetries as the loop current order parameter.\n[1]. Dominic Else\, Ryan Thorngren\, T. Senthil\, https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.07896\n[2]. Dominic Else\, T. Senthil\, https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.10523\n\n\n\n\nApril 1\, 2021 |9:00am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNaoto Nagaosa (University of Tokyo) \nTitle: Applied physics of high-Tc theories \nAbstract: Since the discovery of high temperature superconductors in cuprates in 1986\, many theoretical ideas have been proposed which have enriched condensed matter theory. Especially\, the resonating valence bond (RVB) state for (doped) spin liquids is one of the most fruitful idea. In this talk\, I would like to describe the development of RVB idea to broader class of materials\, especially more conventional magnets. It is related to the noncollinear spin structures with spin chirality and associated quantal Berry phase applied to many phenomena and spintronics applications. It includes the (quantum) anomalous Hall effect\, spin Hall effect\, topological insulator\, multiferroics\, various topological spin textures\, e.g.\, skyrmions\, and nonlinear optics. I will show that even though the phenomena are extensive\, the basic idea is rather simple and common in all of these topics.\n\n\n\n\nApril 22\, 2021 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDung-Hai Lee (UC Berkeley) \nTitle: “Non-abelian bosonization in two and three spatial dimensions and some applications” \nAbstract: In this talk\, we generalize Witten’s non-abelian bosonization in $(1+1)$-D to two and three spatial dimensions. Our theory applies to fermions with relativistic dispersion. The bosonized theories are non-linear sigma models with level-1 Wess-Zumino-Witten terms. As applications\, we apply the bosonization results to the $SU(2)$ gauge theory of the $\pi$ flux mean-field theory of half-filled Hubbard model\, critical spin liquids of “bipartite-Mott insulators” in 1\,2\,3 spatial dimensions\, and twisted bilayer graphene.\n\n\n\n\nMay 12\, 2021 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAndré-Marie Tremblay (Université de Sherbrooke) \nTitle: A unified theoretical perspective on the cuprate phase diagram \nAbstract: Many features of the cuprate phase diagram are a challenge for the usual tools of solid state physics. I will show how a perspective that takes into account both the localized and delocalized aspects of conduction electrons can explain\, at least qualitatively\, many of these features. More specifically\, I will show that the work of several groups using cluster extensions of dynamical mean-field theory sheds light on the pseudogap\, on the quantum-critical point and on d-wave superconductivity. I will argue that the charge transfer gap and oxygen hole content are the best indicators of strong superconductivity and that many observations are a signature of the influence of Mott physics away from half-filling. I will also briefly comment on what information theoretic measures tell us about this problem.\n\n\n\n\nAugust 11\, 2021 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPiers Coleman (Rutgers) \nTitle: Order Fractionalization* \nAbstract: I will discuss the interplay of spin fractionalization with broken\nsymmetry. When a spin fractionalizes into a fermion\, the resulting particle\ncan hybridize or pair with the mobile electrons to develop a new kind of\nfractional order parameter. The concept of “order fractionalization” enables\nus to extend the concept of off-diagonal order to encompass the formation of\nsuch order parameters with fractional quantum numbers\, such as spinorial\norder[1].\nA beautiful illustration of this phenomenon is provided by a model\nwhich incorporates the Yao-Lee-Kitaev model into a Kondo lattice[2]. This\nmodel explicitly exhibits order fractionalization and is expected to undergo a\ndiscrete Ising phase transition at finite temperature into an\norder-fractionalized phase with gapless Majorana excitations.\nThe broader implications of these considerations for Quantum\nMaterials and Quantum Field Theory will be discussed.\nWork done in collaboration with Yashar Komijani\, Anna Toth and Alexei\nTsvelik.\n[1] Order Fractionalization\, Yashar Komijani\, Anna Toth\, Premala Chandra\, Piers Coleman\, (2018).\n[2] Order Fractionalization in a Kitaev Kondo model\, Alexei Tsvelik and Piers Coleman\, (2021).\n\n\n\n\nSeptember 15\, 2021 |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLiang Fu (MIT) \nTitle: Three-particle mechanism for pairing and superconductivity \nAbstract: I will present a new mechanism and an exact theory of electron pairing due to repulsive interaction in doped insulators. When the kinetic energy is small\, the dynamics of adjacent electrons on the lattice is strongly correlated. By developing a controlled kinetic energy expansion\, I will show that two doped charges can attract and form a bound state\, despite and because of the underlying repulsion. This attraction by repulsion is enabled by the virtual excitation of a third electron in the filled band. This three-particle pairing mechanism leads to a variety of novel phenomena at finite doping\, including spin-triplet superconductivity\, pair density wave\, BCS-BEC crossover and Feshbach resonance involving “trimers”. Possible realizations in moire materials\, ZrNCl and WTe2 will be discussed. \n[1] V. Crepel and L. Fu\, Science Advances 7\, eabh2233 (2021)\n[2] V. Crepel and L. Fu\, arXiv:2103.12060\n[3] K. Slagle and L. Fu\,  Phys. Rev. B 102\, 235423 (2020)\n\n\n\n\nSeptember 29\, 2021 |11:30am ET (special time)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNai Phuan Ong (Princeton University)\n\nTitle:.Abstract: The layered honeycomb magnet alpha-RuCl3 orders below 7 K in a zigzag phase in zero field. An in-plane magnetic field H||a suppresses the zigzag order at 7 Tesla\, leaving a spin-disordered phase widely believed to be a quantum spin liquid (QSL) that extends to ~12 T. We have observed oscillations in the longitudinal thermal conductivity Kxx vs. H from 0.4 to 4 K. The oscillations are periodic in 1/H (with a break-in-slope at 7 T). The amplitude function is maximal in the QSL phase (7 –11.5 T). I will describe a benchmark for crystalline disorder\, the reproducibility and intrinsic nature of the oscillations\, and discuss implications for the QSL state. I will also show detailed data on the thermal Hall conductivity Kxy measured from 0.4 K to 10 K and comment on recent half-quantization results.*Czajka et al.\, Nature Physics 17\, 915 (2021).Collaborators: Czajka\, Gao\, Hirschberger\, Lampen Kelley\, Banerjee\, Yan\, Mandrus and Nagler.\n\n\n\n\nDate TBA |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSuchitra Sebastian (University of Cambridge) \nTitle: TBA\n\n\n\n\nDate TBA |10:30am ET\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJenny Hoffman (Harvard University) \nTitle: TBA
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/strongly-correlated-quantum-materials-and-high-temperature-superconductors-series/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Event,Strongly Correlated Quantum Materials and High-Temperature Superconductors
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/unnamed-3-600x338-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210913T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220513T170000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115139
CREATED:20230904T083009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240213T113945Z
UID:10000053-1631523600-1652461200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Swampland Program
DESCRIPTION:During the 2021–2022 academic year\, the CMSA will host a program on the so-called “Swampland.” \nThe Swampland program aims to determine which low-energy effective field theories are consistent with nonperturbative quantum gravity considerations. Not everything is possible in String Theory\, and finding out what is and what is not strongly constrains the low energy physics. These constraints are naturally interesting for particle physics and cosmology\,  which has led to a great deal of activity in the field in the last years. \nThe Swampland is intrinsically interdisciplinary\, with ramifications in string compactifications\, holography\, black hole physics\, cosmology\, particle physics\, and even mathematics. \nThis program will include an extensive group of visitors and a slate of seminars. Additionally\, the CMSA will host a school oriented toward graduate students. \nMore information will be posted here. \nSeminars\nSwampland Seminar Series & Group Meetings \nProgram Visitors\n\nPieter Bomans\, Princeton\, 10/30/21 – 11/02/21\nIrene Valenzuela\, Instituto de Física Teórica\, 02/14/22 – 02/21/22\nMariana Grana\, CEA/Saclay\, 03/21/22 – 03/25/22\nHector Parra De Freitas\, IPHT Saclay\, 03/21/22 – 04/01/22\nTimo Weigand\, 03/21/22 – 03/28/22\nGary Shiu\, University of Wisconsin-Madison\, 04/03/22 – 04/10/22\nThomas van Riet\, Leuven University\, 04/03/22 – 04/09/22\nLars Aalsma\, University of Wisconsin-Madison\, 04/11/22 – 04/15/22\nSergio Cecotti\, 05/08/22 – 05/21/22\nTom Rudelius\, 05/09/22 – 05/13/22
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/swampland-program/
LOCATION:CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Programs
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210915T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220525T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115139
CREATED:20240213T112446Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240502T160729Z
UID:10002496-1631698200-1653474600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Colloquium 9/15/2021 - 5/25/2022
DESCRIPTION:During the 2021–22 academic year\, the CMSA will be hosting a Colloquium\, organized by Du Pei\, Changji Xu\, and Michael Simkin. It will take place on Wednesdays at 9:30am – 10:30am (Boston time). The meetings will take place virtually on Zoom. All CMSA postdocs/members are required to attend the weekly CMSA Members’ Seminars\, as well as the weekly CMSA Colloquium series. The schedule below will be updated as talks are confirmed. \nSpring 2022\n\n\n\n\nDate\nSpeaker\nTitle/Abstract\n\n\n1/26/2022\nSamir Mathur (Ohio State University)\nTitle: The black hole information paradox \nAbstract: In 1975\, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes radiate away in a manner that violates quantum theory. Starting in 1997\, it was observed that black holes in string theory did not have the form expected from general relativity: in place of “empty space will all the mass at the center\,” one finds a “fuzzball” where the mass is distributed throughout the interior of the horizon. This resolves the paradox\, but opposition to this resolution came from groups who sought to extrapolate some ideas in holography. In 2009 it was shown\, using some theorems from quantum information theory\, that these extrapolations were incorrect\, and the fuzzball structure was essential for resolving the puzzle. Opposition continued along different lines\, with a postulate that information would leak out through wormholes. Recently\, it was shown that this wormhole idea had some basic flaws\, leaving the fuzzball paradigm as the natural resolution of Hawking’s puzzle. \nVideo\n\n\n2/2/2022\nAdam Smith (Boston University)\nTitle: Learning and inference from sensitive data \nAbstract: Consider an agency holding a large database of sensitive personal information—say\,  medical records\, census survey answers\, web searches\, or genetic data. The agency would like to discover and publicly release global characteristics of the data while protecting the privacy of individuals’ records. \nI will discuss recent (and not-so-recent) results on this problem with a focus on the release of statistical models. I will first explain some of the fundamental limitations on the release of machine learning models—specifically\, why such models must sometimes memorize training data points nearly completely. On the more positive side\, I will present differential privacy\, a rigorous definition of privacy in statistical databases that is now widely studied\, and increasingly used to analyze and design deployed systems. I will explain some of the challenges of sound statistical inference based on differentially private statistics\, and lay out directions for future investigation.\n\n\n2/8/2022\nWenbin Yan (Tsinghua University)\n(special time: 9:30 pm ET)\nTitle: Tetrahedron instantons and M-theory indices \nAbstract: We introduce and study tetrahedron instantons. Physically they capture instantons on $\mathbb{C}^{3}$ in the presence of the most general intersecting codimension-two supersymmetric defects. In this talk\, we will review instanton moduli spaces\, explain the construction\, moduli space and partition functions of tetrahedron instantons. We will also point out possible relations with M-theory index which could be a generalization of Gupakuma-Vafa theory. \nVideo\n\n\n2/16/2022\nTakuro Mochizuki (Kyoto University)\nTitle: Kobayashi-Hitchin correspondences for harmonic bundles and monopoles \nAbstract: In 1960’s\, Narasimhan and Seshadri discovered the equivalence\nbetween irreducible unitary flat bundles and stable bundles of degree $0$ on compact Riemann surfaces. In 1980’s\, Donaldson\, Uhlenbeck and Yau generalized it to the equivalence between irreducible Hermitian-Einstein bundles\nand stable bundles on smooth projective varieties. This is a surprising bridge connecting differential geometry and algebraic geometry. Since then\, many interesting generalizations have been studied. \nIn this talk\, we would like to review a stream in the study of such correspondences for Higgs bundles\, integrable connections\, $D$-modules and periodic monopoles.\n\n\n2/23/2022\nBartek Czech (Tsinghua University)\nTitle: Holographic Cone of Average Entropies and Universality of Black Holes \nAbstract:  In the AdS/CFT correspondence\, the holographic entropy cone\, which identifies von Neumann entropies of CFT regions that are consistent with a semiclassical bulk dual\, is currently known only up to n=5 regions. I explain that average\nentropies of p-partite subsystems can be checked for consistency with a semiclassical bulk dual far more easily\, for an arbitrary number of regions n. This analysis defines the “Holographic Cone of Average\nEntropies” (HCAE). I conjecture the exact form of HCAE\, and find that it has the following properties: (1) HCAE is the simplest it could be\, namely it is a simplicial cone. (2) Its extremal rays represent stages of thermalization (black hole formation). (3) In a time-reversed picture\, the extremal rays of HCAE represent stages of unitary black hole evaporation\, as stipulated by the island solution of the black hole information paradox. (4) HCAE is bound by a novel\, infinite family of holographic entropy inequalities. (5) HCAE is the simplest it could be also in its dependence on the number of regions n\, namely its bounding inequalities are n-independent. (6) In a precise sense I describe\, the bounding inequalities of HCAE unify (almost) all previously discovered holographic inequalities and strongly constrain future inequalities yet to be discovered. I also sketch an interpretation of HCAE in terms of error correction and the holographic Renormalization Group. The big lesson that HCAE seems to be teaching us is about the universality of black hole physics.\n\n\n3/2/2022\nRichard Kenyon (Yale University)\n\n\n\n3/9/2022\nRichard Tsai (UT Austin)\n\n\n\n3/23/2022\nJoel Cohen (University of Maryland)\n\n\n\n3/30/2022\nRob Leigh (UIUC)\n\n\n\n4/6/2022\nJohannes Kleiner (LMU München)\n\n\n\n4/13/2022\nYuri Manin (Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik)\n\n\n\n4/20/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n4/27/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/4/2022\nMelody Chan (Brown University)\n\n\n\n5/11/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/18/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/25/2022\nHeeyeon Kim (Rutgers University)\n\n\n\n\n\nFall 2021\n\n\n\n\nDate\nSpeaker\nTitle/Abstract\n\n\n9/15/2021\nTian Yang\, Texas A&M\nTitle: Hyperbolic Geometry and Quantum Invariants \nAbstract: There are two very different approaches to 3-dimensional topology\, the hyperbolic geometry following the work of Thurston and the quantum invariants following the work of Jones and Witten. These two approaches are related by a sequence of problems called the Volume Conjectures. In this talk\, I will explain these conjectures and present some recent joint works with Ka Ho Wong related to or benefited from this relationship.\n\n\n9/29/2021\nDavid Jordan\, University of Edinburgh\nTitle: Langlands duality for 3 manifolds \nAbstract: Langlands duality began as a deep and still mysterious conjecture in number theory\, before branching into a similarly deep and mysterious conjecture of Beilinson and Drinfeld concerning the algebraic geometry of Riemann surfaces. In this guise it was given a physical explanation in the framework of 4-dimensional super symmetric quantum field theory by Kapustin and Witten.  However to this day the Hilbert space attached to 3-manifolds\, and hence the precise form of Langlands duality for them\, remains a mystery. \nIn this talk I will propose that so-called “skein modules” of 3-manifolds give natural candidates for these Hilbert spaces at generic twisting parameter Psi \, and I will explain a Langlands duality in this setting\, which we have conjectured with Ben-Zvi\, Gunningham and Safronov. \nIntriguingly\, the precise formulation of such a conjecture in the classical limit Psi=0 is still an open question\, beyond the scope of the talk.\n\n\n10/06/2021\nPiotr Sulkowski\, U Warsaw\nTitle: Strings\, knots and quivers \nAbstract: I will discuss a recently discovered relation between quivers and knots\, as well as – more generally – toric Calabi-Yau manifolds. In the context of knots this relation is referred to as the knots-quivers correspondence\, and it states that various invariants of a given knot are captured by characteristics of a certain quiver\, which can be associated to this knot. Among others\, this correspondence enables to prove integrality of LMOV invariants of a knot by relating them to motivic Donaldson-Thomas invariants of the corresponding quiver\, it provides a new insight on knot categorification\, etc. This correspondence arises from string theory interpretation and engineering of knots in brane systems in the conifold geometry; replacing the conifold by other toric Calabi-Yau manifolds leads to analogous relations between such manifolds and quivers.\n\n\n10/13/2021\nAlexei Oblomkov\, University of Massachusetts\nTitle: Knot homology and sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of points on the plane. \nAbstract: The knot homology (defined by Khovavov\, Rozansky) provide us with a refinement of the knot polynomial knot invariant defined by Jones. However\, the knot homology are much harder to compute compared to the polynomial invariant of Jones. In my talk I present recent developments that allow us to use tools of algebraic geometry to compute the homology of torus knots and prove long-standing conjecture on the Poincare duality the knot homology. In more details\, using physics ideas of Kapustin-Rozansky-Saulina\, in the joint work with Rozansky\, we provide a mathematical construction that associates to a braid on n strands a complex of sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of n points on the plane.  The knot homology of the closure of the braid is a space of sections of this sheaf. The sheaf is also invariant with respect to the natural symmetry of the plane\, the symmetry is the geometric counter-part of the mentioned Poincare duality.\n\n\n10/20/2021\nPeng Shan\, Tsinghua U\nTitle: Categorification and applications \nAbstract: I will give a survey of the program of categorification for quantum groups\, some of its recent development and applications to representation theory.\n\n\n10/27/2021\nKarim Adiprasito\, Hebrew University and University of Copenhagen\nTitle: Anisotropy\, biased pairing theory and applications \nAbstract: Not so long ago\, the relations between algebraic geometry and combinatorics were strictly governed by the former party\, with results like log-concavity of the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of matroids shackled by intuitions and techniques from projective algebraic geometry\, specifically Hodge Theory. And so\, while we proved analogues for these results\, combinatorics felt subjugated to inspirations from outside of it.\nIn recent years\, a new powerful technique has emerged: Instead of following the geometric statements of Hodge theory about signature\, we use intuitions from the Hall marriage theorem\, translated to algebra: once there\, they are statements about self-pairings\, the non-degeneracy of pairings on subspaces to understand the global geometry of the pairing. This was used to establish Lefschetz type theorems far beyond the scope of algebraic geometry\, which in turn established solutions to long-standing conjectures in combinatorics. \nI will survey this theory\, called biased pairing theory\, and new developments within it\, as well as new applications to combinatorial problems. Reporting on joint work with Stavros Papadaki\, Vasiliki Petrotou and Johanna Steinmeyer.\n\n\n11/03/2021\nTamas Hausel\, IST Austria\nTitle: Hitchin map as spectrum of equivariant cohomology \nAbstract: We will explain how to model the Hitchin integrable system on a certain Lagrangian upward flow as the spectrum of equivariant cohomology of a Grassmannian.\n\n\n11/10/2021\nPeter Keevash\, Oxford\nTitle: Hypergraph decompositions and their applications \nAbstract: Many combinatorial objects can be thought of as a hypergraph decomposition\, i.e. a partition of (the edge set of) one hypergraph into (the edge sets of) copies of some other hypergraphs. For example\, a Steiner Triple System is equivalent to a decomposition of a complete graph into triangles. In general\, Steiner Systems are equivalent to decompositions of complete uniform hypergraphs into other complete uniform hypergraphs (of some specified sizes). The Existence Conjecture for Combinatorial Designs\, which I proved in 2014\, states that\, bar finitely many exceptions\, such decompositions exist whenever the necessary ‘divisibility conditions’ hold. I also obtained a generalisation to the quasirandom setting\, which implies an approximate formula for the number of designs; in particular\, this resolved Wilson’s Conjecture on the number of Steiner Triple Systems. A more general result that I proved in 2018 on decomposing lattice-valued vectors indexed by labelled complexes provides many further existence and counting results for a wide range of combinatorial objects\, such as resolvable designs (the generalised form of Kirkman’s Schoolgirl Problem)\, whist tournaments or generalised Sudoku squares. In this talk\, I plan to review this background and then describe some more recent and ongoing applications of these results and developments of the ideas behind them.\n\n\n11/17/2021\nAndrea Brini\, U Sheffield\nTitle: Curve counting on surfaces and topological strings \nAbstract: Enumerative geometry is a venerable subfield of Mathematics\, with roots dating back to Greek Antiquity and a present inextricably linked with developments in other domains. Since the early 90s\, in particular\, the interaction with String Theory has sent shockwaves through the subject\, giving both unexpected new perspectives and a remarkably powerful\, physics-motivated toolkit to tackle several traditionally hard questions in the field.\nI will survey some recent developments in this vein for the case of enumerative invariants associated to a pair (X\, D)\, with X a complex algebraic surface and D a singular anticanonical divisor in it. I will describe a surprising web of correspondences linking together several a priori distant classes of enumerative invariants associated to (X\, D)\, including the log Gromov-Witten invariants of the pair\, the Gromov-Witten invariants of an associated higher dimensional Calabi-Yau variety\, the open Gromov-Witten invariants of certain special Lagrangians in toric Calabi–Yau threefolds\, the Donaldson–Thomas theory of a class of symmetric quivers\, and certain open and closed Gopakumar-Vafa-type invariants. I will also discuss how these correspondences can be effectively used to provide a complete closed-form solution to the calculation of all these invariants.\n\n\n12/01/2021\nRichard Wentworth\, University of Maryland\nTitle: The Hitchin connection for parabolic G-bundles \nAbstract: For a simple and simply connected complex group G\, I will discuss some elements of the proof of the existence of a flat projective connection on the bundle of nonabelian theta functions on the moduli space of semistable parabolic G-bundles over families of smooth projective curves with marked points. Under the isomorphism with the bundle of conformal blocks\, this connection is equivalent to the one constructed by conformal field theory. This is joint work with Indranil Biswas and Swarnava Mukhopadhyay.\n\n\n12/08/2021\nMaria Chudnovsky\, Princeton\nTitle: Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions \nAbstract: Tree decompositions are a powerful tool in both structural\ngraph theory and graph algorithms. Many hard problems become tractable if the input graph is known to have a tree decomposition of bounded “width”. Exhibiting a particular kind of a tree decomposition is also a useful way to describe the structure of a graph. \nTree decompositions have traditionally been used in the context of forbidden graph minors; bringing them into the realm of forbidden induced subgraphs has until recently remained out of reach. Over the last couple of years we have made significant progress in this direction\, exploring both the classical notion of bounded tree-width\, and concepts of more structural flavor. This talk will survey some of these ideas and results.\n\n\n12/15/21\nConstantin Teleman (UC Berkeley)\nTitle: The Kapustin-Rozanski-Saulina “2-category” of a holomorphic integrable system \nAbstract: I will present a construction of the object in the title which\, applied to the classical Toda system\, controls the theory of categorical representations of compact Lie groups\, along with applications (some conjectural\, some rigorous) to gauged Gromov-Witten theory. Time permitting\, we will review applications to Coulomb branches and the categorified Weyl character formula.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-colloquium_2021-22/
LOCATION:CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211206T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211206T140000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115139
CREATED:20240214T112042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T074922Z
UID:10002695-1638795600-1638799200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Extremal Black Hole Corrections from Iyer-Wald
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Extremal black holes play a key role in our understanding of various swampland conjectures and in particular the WGC. The mild form of the WGC states that higher-derivative corrections should decrease the mass of extremal black holes at fixed charge. Whether or not this conjecture is satisfied depends on the sign of the combination of Wilson coefficients that control corrections to extremality. Typically\, corrections to extremality need to be computed on a case-by-case basis\, but in this talk I will present a universal derivation of extremal black hole corrections using the Iyer-Wald formalism. This leads to a formula that expresses general corrections to the extremality bound in terms of the stress tensor of the perturbations under consideration\, clarifying the relation between the WGC and energy conditions. This shows that a necessary condition for the mild form of the WGC to be satisfied is a violation of the Dominant Energy Condition. This talk is based on 2111.04201.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-6-2021-swampland-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Swampland Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211207T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211207T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115139
CREATED:20230818T050741Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240122T054102Z
UID:10001286-1638869400-1638873000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:2d N=(0\,1) gauge theories\, Spin(7) orientifolds and triality
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-7-21-algebraic-geometry-in-string-theory/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211207T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211207T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115139
CREATED:20240213T070713Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240213T070713Z
UID:10002160-1638869400-1638873000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The singularity probability of random symmetric matrices
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Let M_n be drawn uniformly from all n by n symmetric matrices with entries in {-1\,1}. In this talk I’ll consider the following basic question: what is the probability that M_n is singular? I’ll discuss recent joint work with Marcelo Campos\, Marcus Michelen and Julian Sahasrabudhe where we show that this probability is exponentially small. I hope to make the talk accessible to a fairly general audience.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/the-singularity-probability-of-random-symmetric-matrices/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Combinatorics Physics and Probability
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Combinatorics-Physics-and-Probability-Seminar-12.07.2021.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211208T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211208T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115139
CREATED:20240214T042604Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240502T154649Z
UID:10002528-1638955800-1638959400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Maria Chudnovsky\, Princeton \nTitle: Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions \nAbstract: Tree decompositions are a powerful tool in both structural\ngraph theory and graph algorithms. Many hard problems become tractable if the input graph is known to have a tree decomposition of bounded “width”. Exhibiting a particular kind of a tree decomposition is also a useful way to describe the structure of a graph. \nTree decompositions have traditionally been used in the context of forbidden graph minors; bringing them into the realm of forbidden induced subgraphs has until recently remained out of reach. Over the last couple of years we have made significant progress in this direction\, exploring both the classical notion of bounded tree-width\, and concepts of more structural flavor. This talk will survey some of these ideas and results.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/induced-subgraphs-and-tree-decompositions/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Colloquium-12.08.21-791x1024-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211208T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211208T120000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115139
CREATED:20240214T094451Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T083428Z
UID:10002644-1638959400-1638964800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Defects\, link invariants and exact WKB
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Fei Yan (Rutgers) \nTitle: Defects\, link invariants and exact WKB \nAbstract: I will describe some of my recent work on defects in supersymmetric field theories. The first part of my talk is focused on line defects in certain large classes of 4d N=2 theories and 3d N=2 theories. I will describe geometric methods to compute the ground states spectrum of the bulk-defect system\, as well as implications on the construction of link invariants. In the second part I will talk about some perspectives of surface defects in 4d N=2 theories and related applications on the exact WKB method for ordinary differential equations. This talk is based on past joint work with A. Neitzke\, various work in progress with D. Gaiotto\, S. Jeong\, A. Khan\, G. Moore\, as well as work by myself.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-8-2021-quantum-matter-in-mathematics-and-physics/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QMMP-12.08.21-1544x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211208T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211208T150000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115139
CREATED:20230808T175752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240515T203917Z
UID:10001201-1638972000-1638975600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Hierarchical Transformers are More Efficient Language Models
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Piotr Nawrot\, University of Warsaw \nTitle: Hierarchical Transformers are More Efficient Language Models \nAbstract: Transformer models yield impressive results on many NLP and sequence modeling tasks. Remarkably\, Transformers can handle long sequences which allows them to produce long coherent outputs: full paragraphs produced by GPT-3 or well-structured images produced by DALL-E. These large language models are impressive but also very inefficient and costly\, which limits their applications and accessibility. We postulate that having an explicit hierarchical architecture is the key to Transformers that efficiently handle long sequences. To verify this claim\, we first study different ways to upsample and downsample activations in Transformers so as to make them hierarchical. We use the best performing upsampling and downsampling layers to create Hourglass – a hierarchical Transformer language model. Hourglass improves upon the Transformer baseline given the same amount of computation and can yield the same results as Transformers more efficiently. In particular\, Hourglass sets new state-of-the-art for Transformer models on the ImageNet32 generation task and improves language modeling efficiency on the widely studied enwik8 benchmark.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-8-21-new-technologies-in-mathematics/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-NTM-Seminar-12.08.21.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211209T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211209T143000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20230705T082223Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250328T200233Z
UID:10000072-1639042200-1639060200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Math-Science Literature Lecture - Karen Uhlenbeck
DESCRIPTION:Karen Uhlenbeck (Institute for Advanced Study) \nTitle: The Noether Theorems in Geometry: Then and Now \nAbstract: The 1918 Noether theorems were a product of the general search for energy and momentum conservation in Einstein’s newly formulated theory of general relativity. Although widely referred to as the connection between symmetry and conservation laws\, the theorems themselves are often not understood properly and hence have not been as widely used as they might be. In the first part of the talk\, I outline a brief history of the theorems\, explain a bit of the language\, translate the first theorem into coordinate invariant language and give a few examples. I will mention only briefly their importance in physics and integrable systems. In the second part of the talk\, I describe why they are still relevant in geometric analysis: how they underlie standard techniques and why George Daskalopoulos and I came to be interested in them for our investigation into the best Lipschitz maps of Bill Thurston. Some applications to integrals on a domain a hyperbolic surface leave open possibilities for applications to integrals on domains which are locally symmetric spaces of higher dimension. The talk finishes with an example or two from the literature. \nTalk Chair: Laura DeMarco \nVIDEO
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-9-21-math-science-literature-lecture-karen-uhlenbeck/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Event,Math Science Literature Lecture Series,Public Lecture,Special Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/Lecture_Uhlenbeck_12921.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211209T142900
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211209T152900
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240215T093828Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T093828Z
UID:10002723-1639060140-1639063740@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:12/9/21 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Numerical Higher Dimensional Geometry \nAbstract: In 1977\, Yau proved that a Kahler manifold with zero first Chern class admits a Ricci flat metric\, which is uniquely determined by certain “moduli” data. These metrics have been very important in mathematics and in theoretical physics\, but despite much subsequent work we have no analytical expressions for them. But significant progress has been made on computing numerical approximations. We give an introduction (not assuming knowledge of complex geometry) to these problems and describe these methods.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-9-21-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-12.09.21-1583x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211210T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211210T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240214T072023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T110742Z
UID:10002556-1639128600-1639132200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:On the solution space of the Ising perceptron model
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar  \nSpeaker: Changji Xu \nTitle: On the solution space of the Ising perceptron model \nAbstract:  Consider the discrete cube $\{-1\,1\}^N$ and a random collection of half spaces which includes each half space $H(x) := \{y \in \{-1\,1\}^N: x \cdot y \geq \kappa \sqrt{N}\}$ for $x \in \{-1\,1\}^N$ independently with probability $p$. The solution space is the intersection of these half spaces. In this talk\, we will talk about its sharp threshold phenomenon\, the frozen structure of the solution space\, and the Gardner formula.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-10-2021-member-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211210T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211210T160000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240214T094047Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T083259Z
UID:10002642-1639146600-1639152000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Gravitational anomaly of 3 + 1 dimensional Z2 toric code with fermionic charges and ferionic loop self-statistics
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Lukasz Fidkowski (U Washington) \nTitle: Gravitational anomaly of 3 + 1 dimensional Z2 toric code with fermionic charges and ferionic loop self-statistics \nAbstract: Quasiparticle excitations in 3 + 1 dimensions can be either bosons or fermions. In this work\, we introduce the notion of fermionic loop excitations in 3 + 1 dimensional topological phases. Specifically\, we construct a new many-body lattice invariant of gapped Hamiltonians\, the loop self-statistics μ = ±1\, that distinguishes two bosonic topological orders that both superficially resemble 3 + 1d Z2 gauge theory coupled to fermionic charged matter. The first has fermionic charges and bosonic Z2 gauge flux loops (FcBl) and is just the ordinary fermionic toric code. The second has fermionic charges and fermionic loops (FcFl) and\, as we argue\, can only exist at the boundary of a non-trivial 4 + 1d invertible phase\, stable without any symmetries i.e.\, it possesses a gravitational anomaly. We substantiate these claims by constructing an explicit exactly solvable 4 + 1d Walker–Wang model and computing the loop self-statistics in the fermionic Z2 gauge theory hosted at its boundary. We also show that the FcFl phase has the same gravitational anomaly as all-fermion quantum electrodynamics. Our results are in agreement with the recent classification of nondegenerate braided fusion 2- categories\, and with the cobordism prediction of a non-trivial Z2-classified 4+1d invertible phase with action S = (1/2) w2 w3.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-10-2021-quantum-matter-in-mathematics-and-physics/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211214T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211214T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240213T112343Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240304T102729Z
UID:10002495-1639474200-1639477800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The longest induced path in a sparse random graph
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: A long-standing problem in random graph theory has been to determine asymptotically the length of a longest induced path in sparse random graphs. Independent work of Luczak and Suen from the 90s showed the existence of an induced path of roughly half the optimal size\, which seems to be a barrier for certain natural approaches. Recently\, in joint work with Draganic and Krivelevich\, we solved this problem. In the talk\, I will discuss the history of the problem and give an overview of the proof.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-14-21-combinatorics-physics-and-probability-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Combinatorics Physics and Probability
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Combinatorics-Physics-and-Probability-Seminar-12.14.2021.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211215T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211215T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240214T042254Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240502T154858Z
UID:10002527-1639560600-1639564200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The Kapustin-Rozanski-Saulina "2-category" of a holomorphic integrable system
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Constantin Teleman (UC Berkeley) \nTitle: The Kapustin-Rozanski-Saulina “2-category” of a holomorphic integrable system \nAbstract: I will present a construction of the object in the title which\, applied to the classical Toda system\, controls the theory of categorical representations of compact Lie groups\, along with applications (some conjectural\, some rigorous) to gauged Gromov-Witten theory. Time permitting\, we will review applications to Coulomb branches and the categorified Weyl character formula.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/the-kapustin-rozanski-saulina-2-category-of-a-holomorphic-integrable-system/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Colloquium-12.15.21-791x1024-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211215T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211215T150000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20230808T180208Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240515T204057Z
UID:10001202-1639576800-1639580400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Unreasonable effectiveness of the quantum complexity view on quantum many-body physics
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Anurag Anshu\, Department of EECS & Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation\, UC Berkeley \nTitle: Unreasonable effectiveness of the quantum complexity view on quantum many-body physics \nAbstract: A central challenge in quantum many-body physics is to estimate the properties of natural quantum states\, such as the quantum ground states and Gibbs states. Quantum Hamiltonian complexity offers a computational perspective on this challenge and classifies these natural quantum states using the language of quantum complexity classes. This talk will provide a gentle introduction to the field and highlight its success in pinning down the hardness of a wide variety of quantum states. In particular\, we will consider the gapped ground states and Gibbs states on low dimensional lattices\, which are believed to exhibit ‘low complexity’ due to the widely studied area law behaviour. Here\, we will see the crucial role of complexity-theoretic methods in progress on the ‘area law conjecture’ and in the development of efficient algorithms to classically simulate quantum many-body systems.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-15-21-new-technologies-in-mathematics/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-NTM-Seminar-12.15.21-2.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211216T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211216T140000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240214T075612Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240304T052540Z
UID:10002573-1639659600-1639663200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Low regularity ill-posedness for 3D elastic waves and for 3D ideal compressible MHD driven by shock formation
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: We construct counterexamples to the local existence of low-regularity solutions to elastic wave equations and to the ideal compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) system in three spatial dimensions (3D). Inspired by the recent works of Christodoulou\, we generalize Lindblad’s classic results on the scalar wave equation by showing that the Cauchy problems for 3D elastic waves and for 3D MHD system are ill-posed in $H^3(R^3)$ and $H^2(R^3)$\, respectively. Both elastic waves and MHD are physical systems with multiple wave speeds.  We further prove that the ill-posedness is caused by instantaneous shock formation\, which is characterized by the vanishing of the inverse foliation density. In particular\, when the magnetic field is absent in MHD\, we also provide a desired low-regularity ill-posedness result for the 3D compressible Euler equations\, and it is sharp with respect to the regularity of the fluid velocity.  Our proofs for elastic waves and for MHD are based on a coalition of a carefully designed algebraic approach and a geometric approach. To trace the nonlinear interactions of various waves\, we algebraically decompose the 3D elastic waves and the 3D ideal MHD equations into $6\times 6$ and $7\times 7$ non-strictly hyperbolic systems. Via detailed calculations\, we reveal their hidden subtle structures. With them\, we give a complete description of solutions’ dynamics up to the earliest singular event\, when a shock forms. This talk is based on joint works with Haoyang Chen and Silu Yin.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-16-2021-general-relativity-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:General Relativity Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211216T144600
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211216T154600
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240215T093643Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T093643Z
UID:10002722-1639665960-1639669560@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:12/16/2021 Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Quadratic reciprocity from a family of adelic conformal field theories \nAbstract: We consider a deformation of the 2d free scalar field action by raising the Laplacian to a positive real power. It turns out that the resulting non-local generalized free action is invariant under two commuting actions of the global conformal symmetry algebra\, although it’s no longer invariant under the local conformal symmetry algebra. Furthermore\, there is an adelic version of this family of global conformal field theories\, parametrized by the choice of a number field\, together with a Hecke character. Tate’s thesis plays an important role here in calculating Green’s functions of these theories\, and in ensuring the adelic compatibility of these theories. In particular\, the local L-factors contribute to prefactors of these Green’s functions. We shall try to see quadratic reciprocity from this context\, as a consequence of an adelic version of holomorphic factorization of these theories. This is work in progress with B. Stoica and X. Zhong.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/12-16-2021-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211218T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211231T170000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20230904T080332Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250303T193414Z
UID:10000049-1639818000-1640970000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CONDENSED MATTER PROGRAM
DESCRIPTION:The methods of topology have been applied to condensed matter physics in the study of topological phases of matter. Topological states of matter are new quantum states that can be characterized by their topological properties. For example\, the first topological states of matter discovered were the integer quantum Hall states. The two dimensional integer quantum Hall effect was characterized by an integral number which can be understood as a Chern number of the Berry phase. Chern numbers are topological invariants that play an important role in different areas of mathematics. More recently\, new topological states of matter known as topological insulators and topological superconductors have been realized theoretically and experimentally. The characterization of new phases of matter using topological invariants has allowed for a better understanding and even predictions of new phases of matter. The use of topology could lead to the discovery of new electronic\, photonic\, and ultracold atomic states of matter previously unknown. The concrete problems in the physical phenomena could inspire new developments in the study of topological invariants in mathematics. \nHere is a list of the scholars participating in this program. \n\n\n\n\nName\n\n\n\n\nShing-Tung Yau\n\n\nHai Lin\n\n\nJuven Wang\n\n\nPeng Gao
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/condensed-matter-program/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Programs
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211221T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211221T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240213T113347Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240304T110811Z
UID:10002505-1640079000-1640082600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Colloquium 2021–22
DESCRIPTION:During the 2021–22 academic year\, the CMSA will be hosting a Colloquium\, organized by Du Pei\, Changji Xu\, and Michael Simkin. It will take place on Wednesdays at 9:30am – 10:30am (Boston time). The meetings will take place virtually on Zoom. All CMSA postdocs/members are required to attend the weekly CMSA Members’ Seminars\, as well as the weekly CMSA Colloquium series. The schedule below will be updated as talks are confirmed. \nSpring 2022 \n\n\n\nDate\nSpeaker\nTitle/Abstract\n\n\n1/26/2022\nSamir Mathur (Ohio State University)\nTitle: The black hole information paradox \nAbstract: In 1975\, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes radiate away in a manner that violates quantum theory. Starting in 1997\, it was observed that black holes in string theory did not have the form expected from general relativity: in place of “empty space will all the mass at the center\,” one finds a “fuzzball” where the mass is distributed throughout the interior of the horizon. This resolves the paradox\, but opposition to this resolution came from groups who sought to extrapolate some ideas in holography. In 2009 it was shown\, using some theorems from quantum information theory\, that these extrapolations were incorrect\, and the fuzzball structure was essential for resolving the puzzle. Opposition continued along different lines\, with a postulate that information would leak out through wormholes. Recently\, it was shown that this wormhole idea had some basic flaws\, leaving the fuzzball paradigm as the natural resolution of Hawking’s puzzle. \nVideo\n\n\n2/2/2022\nAdam Smith (Boston University)\nTitle: Learning and inference from sensitive data \nAbstract: Consider an agency holding a large database of sensitive personal information—say\,  medical records\, census survey answers\, web searches\, or genetic data. The agency would like to discover and publicly release global characteristics of the data while protecting the privacy of individuals’ records. \nI will discuss recent (and not-so-recent) results on this problem with a focus on the release of statistical models. I will first explain some of the fundamental limitations on the release of machine learning models—specifically\, why such models must sometimes memorize training data points nearly completely. On the more positive side\, I will present differential privacy\, a rigorous definition of privacy in statistical databases that is now widely studied\, and increasingly used to analyze and design deployed systems. I will explain some of the challenges of sound statistical inference based on differentially private statistics\, and lay out directions for future investigation.\n\n\n2/8/2022\nWenbin Yan (Tsinghua University)\n(special time: 9:30 pm ET)\nTitle: Tetrahedron instantons and M-theory indices \nAbstract: We introduce and study tetrahedron instantons. Physically they capture instantons on $\mathbb{C}^{3}$ in the presence of the most general intersecting codimension-two supersymmetric defects. In this talk\, we will review instanton moduli spaces\, explain the construction\, moduli space and partition functions of tetrahedron instantons. We will also point out possible relations with M-theory index which could be a generalization of Gupakuma-Vafa theory. \nVideo\n\n\n2/16/2022\nTakuro Mochizuki (Kyoto University)\nTitle: Kobayashi-Hitchin correspondences for harmonic bundles and monopoles \nAbstract: In 1960’s\, Narasimhan and Seshadri discovered the equivalence\nbetween irreducible unitary flat bundles and stable bundles of degree $0$ on compact Riemann surfaces. In 1980’s\, Donaldson\, Uhlenbeck and Yau generalized it to the equivalence between irreducible Hermitian-Einstein bundles\nand stable bundles on smooth projective varieties. This is a surprising bridge connecting differential geometry and algebraic geometry. Since then\, many interesting generalizations have been studied. \nIn this talk\, we would like to review a stream in the study of such correspondences for Higgs bundles\, integrable connections\, $D$-modules and periodic monopoles.\n\n\n2/23/2022\nBartek Czech (Tsinghua University)\nTitle: Holographic Cone of Average Entropies and Universality of Black Holes \nAbstract:  In the AdS/CFT correspondence\, the holographic entropy cone\, which identifies von Neumann entropies of CFT regions that are consistent with a semiclassical bulk dual\, is currently known only up to n=5 regions. I explain that average\nentropies of p-partite subsystems can be checked for consistency with a semiclassical bulk dual far more easily\, for an arbitrary number of regions n. This analysis defines the “Holographic Cone of Average\nEntropies” (HCAE). I conjecture the exact form of HCAE\, and find that it has the following properties: (1) HCAE is the simplest it could be\, namely it is a simplicial cone. (2) Its extremal rays represent stages of thermalization (black hole formation). (3) In a time-reversed picture\, the extremal rays of HCAE represent stages of unitary black hole evaporation\, as stipulated by the island solution of the black hole information paradox. (4) HCAE is bound by a novel\, infinite family of holographic entropy inequalities. (5) HCAE is the simplest it could be also in its dependence on the number of regions n\, namely its bounding inequalities are n-independent. (6) In a precise sense I describe\, the bounding inequalities of HCAE unify (almost) all previously discovered holographic inequalities and strongly constrain future inequalities yet to be discovered. I also sketch an interpretation of HCAE in terms of error correction and the holographic Renormalization Group. The big lesson that HCAE seems to be teaching us is about the universality of black hole physics.\n\n\n3/2/2022\nRichard Kenyon (Yale University)\nTitle: Dimers and webs \nAbstract: We consider SL_n-local systems on graphs on surfaces and show how the associated Kasteleyn matrix can be used to compute probabilities of various topological events involving the overlay of n independent dimer covers (or “n-webs”). \nThis is joint work with Dan Douglas and Haolin Shi.\n\n\n3/9/2022\nYen-Hsi Richard Tsai (UT Austin)\nTitle: Side-effects of Learning from Low Dimensional Data Embedded in an Euclidean Space \nAbstract: The  low  dimensional  manifold  hypothesis  posits  that  the  data  found  in many applications\, such as those involving natural images\, lie (approximately) on low dimensional manifolds embedded in a high dimensional Euclidean space. In this setting\, a typical neural network defines a function that takes a finite number of vectors in the embedding space as input.  However\, one often needs to  consider  evaluating  the  optimized  network  at  points  outside  the  training distribution.  We analyze the cases where the training data are distributed in a linear subspace of Rd.  We derive estimates on the variation of the learning function\, defined by a neural network\, in the direction transversal to the subspace.  We study the potential regularization effects associated with the network’s depth and noise in the codimension of the data manifold.\n\n\n3/23/2022\nJoel Cohen (University of Maryland)\nTitle: Fluctuation scaling or Taylor’s law of heavy-tailed data\, illustrated by U.S. COVID-19 cases and deaths \nAbstract: Over the last century\, ecologists\, statisticians\, physicists\, financial quants\, and other scientists discovered that\, in many examples\, the sample variance approximates a power of the sample mean of each of a set of samples of nonnegative quantities. This power-law relationship of variance to mean is known as a power variance function in statistics\, as Taylor’s law in ecology\, and as fluctuation scaling in physics and financial mathematics. This survey talk will emphasize ideas\, motivations\, recent theoretical results\, and applications rather than detailed proofs. Many models intended to explain Taylor’s law assume the probability distribution underlying each sample has finite mean and variance. Recently\, colleagues and I generalized Taylor’s law to samples from probability distributions with infinite mean or infinite variance and higher moments. For such heavy-tailed distributions\, we extended Taylor’s law to higher moments than the mean and variance and to upper and lower semivariances (measures of upside and downside portfolio risk). In unpublished work\, we suggest that U.S. COVID-19 cases and deaths illustrate Taylor’s law arising from a distribution with finite mean and infinite variance. This model has practical implications. Collaborators in this work are Mark Brown\, Richard A. Davis\, Victor de la Peña\, Gennady Samorodnitsky\, Chuan-Fa Tang\, and Sheung Chi Phillip Yam.\n\n\n3/30/2022\nRob Leigh (UIUC)\nTitle: Edge Modes and Gravity \nAbstract:  In this talk I first review some of the many appearances of localized degrees of freedom — edge modes —  in a variety of physical systems. Edge modes are implicated for example in quantum entanglement and in various topological and holographic dualities. I then review recent work in which it has been realized that a careful treatment of such modes\, paying attention to relevant symmetries\, is required in order to properly understand such basic physical quantities as Noether charges. From many points of view\, it is conjectured that this physics may be pointing at basic properties of quantum spacetimes and gravity.\n\n\n4/6/2022\nJohannes Kleiner (LMU München)\nTitle: What is Mathematical Consciousness Science? \nAbstract: In the last three decades\, the problem of consciousness – how and why physical systems such as the brain have conscious experiences – has received increasing attention among neuroscientists\, psychologists\, and philosophers. Recently\, a decidedly mathematical perspective has emerged as well\, which is now called Mathematical Consciousness Science. In this talk\, I will give an introduction and overview of Mathematical Consciousness Science for mathematicians\, including a bottom-up introduction to the problem of consciousness and how it is amenable to mathematical tools and methods.\n\n\n4/13/2022\nYuri Manin (Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik)\nTitle: Quantisation in monoidal categories and quantum operads \nAbstract: The standard definition of symmetries of a structure given on a set S (in the sense of Bourbaki) is the group of bijective maps S to S\, compatible with this structure.  But in fact\, symmetries of various structures related to storing and transmitting information (such as information spaces) are naturally embodied in various classes of loops such as Moufang loops\, – nonassociative analogs of groups. \nThe idea of symmetry as a group is closely related to classical physics\, in a very definite sense\, going back at least to Archimedes. When quantum physics started to replace classical\, it turned out that classical symmetries must also be replaced by their quantum versions\, e.g. quantum groups. \nIn this talk we explain how to define and study quantum versions of symmetries\, relevant to information theory and other contexts\n\n\n4/27/2022\nVenkatesan Guruswami (UC Berkeley)\nTitle: Long common subsequences between bit-strings and the zero-rate threshold of deletion-correcting codes \nAbstract: Suppose we transmit n bits on a noisy channel that deletes some fraction of the bits arbitrarily. What’s the supremum p* of deletion fractions that can be corrected with a binary code of non-vanishing rate? Evidently p* is at most 1/2 as the adversary can delete all occurrences of the minority bit. It was unknown whether this simple upper bound could be improved\, or one could in fact correct deletion fractions approaching 1/2. \nWe show that there exist absolute constants A and delta > 0 such that any subset of n-bit strings of size exp((log n)^A) must contain two strings with a common subsequence of length (1/2+delta)n. This immediately implies that the zero-rate threshold p* of worst-case bit deletions is bounded away from 1/2. \nOur techniques include string regularity arguments and a structural lemma that classifies bit-strings by their oscillation patterns. Leveraging these tools\, we find in any large code two strings with similar oscillation patterns\, which is exploited to find a long common subsequence. \nThis is joint work with Xiaoyu He and Ray Li.\n\n\n5/18/2022\n David Nelson (Harvard)\nTitle: Statistical Mechanics of Mutilated Sheets and Shells \nAbstract:  Understanding deformations of macroscopic thin plates and shells has a long and rich history\, culminating with the Foeppl-von Karman equations in 1904\, a precursor of general relativity characterized by a dimensionless coupling constant (the “Foeppl-von Karman number”) that can easily reach  vK = 10^7 in an ordinary sheet of writing paper.  However\, thermal fluctuations in thin elastic membranes fundamentally alter the long wavelength physics\, as exemplified by experiments that twist and bend individual atomically-thin free-standing graphene sheets (with vK = 10^13!)   A crumpling transition out of the flat phase for thermalized elastic membranes has been predicted when kT is large compared to the microscopic bending stiffness\, which could have interesting consequences for Dirac cones of electrons embedded in graphene.   It may be possible to lower the crumpling temperature for graphene to more readily accessible range by inserting a regular lattice of laser-cut perforations\, an expectation an confirmed by extensive molecular dynamics simulations.    We then move on to analyze the physics of sheets mutilated with puckers and stitches.   Puckers and stitches lead to Ising-like phase transitions riding on a background of flexural phonons\, as well as an anomalous coefficient of thermal expansion.  Finally\, we argue that thin membranes with a background curvature lead to thermalized spherical shells that must collapse beyond a critical size at room temperature\, even in the absence of an external pressure.\n\n\n\nFall 2021 \n\n\n\nDate\nSpeaker\nTitle/Abstract\n\n\n9/15/2021\nTian Yang\, Texas A&M\nTitle: Hyperbolic Geometry and Quantum Invariants \nAbstract: There are two very different approaches to 3-dimensional topology\, the hyperbolic geometry following the work of Thurston and the quantum invariants following the work of Jones and Witten. These two approaches are related by a sequence of problems called the Volume Conjectures. In this talk\, I will explain these conjectures and present some recent joint works with Ka Ho Wong related to or benefited from this relationship.\n\n\n9/29/2021\nDavid Jordan\, University of Edinburgh\nTitle: Langlands duality for 3 manifolds \nAbstract: Langlands duality began as a deep and still mysterious conjecture in number theory\, before branching into a similarly deep and mysterious conjecture of Beilinson and Drinfeld concerning the algebraic geometry of Riemann surfaces. In this guise it was given a physical explanation in the framework of 4-dimensional super symmetric quantum field theory by Kapustin and Witten.  However to this day the Hilbert space attached to 3-manifolds\, and hence the precise form of Langlands duality for them\, remains a mystery. \nIn this talk I will propose that so-called “skein modules” of 3-manifolds give natural candidates for these Hilbert spaces at generic twisting parameter Psi \, and I will explain a Langlands duality in this setting\, which we have conjectured with Ben-Zvi\, Gunningham and Safronov. \nIntriguingly\, the precise formulation of such a conjecture in the classical limit Psi=0 is still an open question\, beyond the scope of the talk.\n\n\n10/06/2021\nPiotr Sulkowski\, U Warsaw\nTitle: Strings\, knots and quivers \nAbstract: I will discuss a recently discovered relation between quivers and knots\, as well as – more generally – toric Calabi-Yau manifolds. In the context of knots this relation is referred to as the knots-quivers correspondence\, and it states that various invariants of a given knot are captured by characteristics of a certain quiver\, which can be associated to this knot. Among others\, this correspondence enables to prove integrality of LMOV invariants of a knot by relating them to motivic Donaldson-Thomas invariants of the corresponding quiver\, it provides a new insight on knot categorification\, etc. This correspondence arises from string theory interpretation and engineering of knots in brane systems in the conifold geometry; replacing the conifold by other toric Calabi-Yau manifolds leads to analogous relations between such manifolds and quivers.\n\n\n10/13/2021\nAlexei Oblomkov\, University of Massachusetts\nTitle: Knot homology and sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of points on the plane. \nAbstract: The knot homology (defined by Khovavov\, Rozansky) provide us with a refinement of the knot polynomial knot invariant defined by Jones. However\, the knot homology are much harder to compute compared to the polynomial invariant of Jones. In my talk I present recent developments that allow us to use tools of algebraic geometry to compute the homology of torus knots and prove long-standing conjecture on the Poincare duality the knot homology. In more details\, using physics ideas of Kapustin-Rozansky-Saulina\, in the joint work with Rozansky\, we provide a mathematical construction that associates to a braid on n strands a complex of sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of n points on the plane.  The knot homology of the closure of the braid is a space of sections of this sheaf. The sheaf is also invariant with respect to the natural symmetry of the plane\, the symmetry is the geometric counter-part of the mentioned Poincare duality.\n\n\n10/20/2021\nPeng Shan\, Tsinghua U\nTitle: Categorification and applications \nAbstract: I will give a survey of the program of categorification for quantum groups\, some of its recent development and applications to representation theory.\n\n\n10/27/2021\nKarim Adiprasito\, Hebrew University and University of Copenhagen\nTitle: Anisotropy\, biased pairing theory and applications \nAbstract: Not so long ago\, the relations between algebraic geometry and combinatorics were strictly governed by the former party\, with results like log-concavity of the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of matroids shackled by intuitions and techniques from projective algebraic geometry\, specifically Hodge Theory. And so\, while we proved analogues for these results\, combinatorics felt subjugated to inspirations from outside of it.\nIn recent years\, a new powerful technique has emerged: Instead of following the geometric statements of Hodge theory about signature\, we use intuitions from the Hall marriage theorem\, translated to algebra: once there\, they are statements about self-pairings\, the non-degeneracy of pairings on subspaces to understand the global geometry of the pairing. This was used to establish Lefschetz type theorems far beyond the scope of algebraic geometry\, which in turn established solutions to long-standing conjectures in combinatorics. \nI will survey this theory\, called biased pairing theory\, and new developments within it\, as well as new applications to combinatorial problems. Reporting on joint work with Stavros Papadaki\, Vasiliki Petrotou and Johanna Steinmeyer.\n\n\n11/03/2021\nTamas Hausel\, IST Austria\nTitle: Hitchin map as spectrum of equivariant cohomology \nAbstract: We will explain how to model the Hitchin integrable system on a certain Lagrangian upward flow as the spectrum of equivariant cohomology of a Grassmannian.\n\n\n11/10/2021\nPeter Keevash\, Oxford\nTitle: Hypergraph decompositions and their applications\n\nAbstract: Many combinatorial objects can be thought of as a hypergraph decomposition\, i.e. a partition of (the edge set of) one hypergraph into (the edge sets of) copies of some other hypergraphs. For example\, a Steiner Triple System is equivalent to a decomposition of a complete graph into triangles. In general\, Steiner Systems are equivalent to decompositions of complete uniform hypergraphs into other complete uniform hypergraphs (of some specified sizes). The Existence Conjecture for Combinatorial Designs\, which I proved in 2014\, states that\, bar finitely many exceptions\, such decompositions exist whenever the necessary ‘divisibility conditions’ hold. I also obtained a generalisation to the quasirandom setting\, which implies an approximate formula for the number of designs; in particular\, this resolved Wilson’s Conjecture on the number of Steiner Triple Systems. A more general result that I proved in 2018 on decomposing lattice-valued vectors indexed by labelled complexes provides many further existence and counting results for a wide range of combinatorial objects\, such as resolvable designs (the generalised form of Kirkman’s Schoolgirl Problem)\, whist tournaments or generalised Sudoku squares. In this talk\, I plan to review this background and then describe some more recent and ongoing applications of these results and developments of the ideas behind them.\n\n\n11/17/2021\nAndrea Brini\, U Sheffield\nTitle: Curve counting on surfaces and topological strings \nAbstract: Enumerative geometry is a venerable subfield of Mathematics\, with roots dating back to Greek Antiquity and a present inextricably linked with developments in other domains. Since the early 90s\, in particular\, the interaction with String Theory has sent shockwaves through the subject\, giving both unexpected new perspectives and a remarkably powerful\, physics-motivated toolkit to tackle several traditionally hard questions in the field.\nI will survey some recent developments in this vein for the case of enumerative invariants associated to a pair (X\, D)\, with X a complex algebraic surface and D a singular anticanonical divisor in it. I will describe a surprising web of correspondences linking together several a priori distant classes of enumerative invariants associated to (X\, D)\, including the log Gromov-Witten invariants of the pair\, the Gromov-Witten invariants of an associated higher dimensional Calabi-Yau variety\, the open Gromov-Witten invariants of certain special Lagrangians in toric Calabi–Yau threefolds\, the Donaldson–Thomas theory of a class of symmetric quivers\, and certain open and closed Gopakumar-Vafa-type invariants. I will also discuss how these correspondences can be effectively used to provide a complete closed-form solution to the calculation of all these invariants.\n\n\n12/01/2021\nRichard Wentworth\, University of Maryland\nTitle: The Hitchin connection for parabolic G-bundles \nAbstract: For a simple and simply connected complex group G\, I will discuss some elements of the proof of the existence of a flat projective connection on the bundle of nonabelian theta functions on the moduli space of semistable parabolic G-bundles over families of smooth projective curves with marked points. Under the isomorphism with the bundle of conformal blocks\, this connection is equivalent to the one constructed by conformal field theory. This is joint work with Indranil Biswas and Swarnava Mukhopadhyay.\n\n\n12/08/2021\nMaria Chudnovsky\, Princeton\nTitle: Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions \nAbstract: Tree decompositions are a powerful tool in both structural\ngraph theory and graph algorithms. Many hard problems become tractable if the input graph is known to have a tree decomposition of bounded “width”. Exhibiting a particular kind of a tree decomposition is also a useful way to describe the structure of a graph. \nTree decompositions have traditionally been used in the context of forbidden graph minors; bringing them into the realm of forbidden induced subgraphs has until recently remained out of reach. Over the last couple of years we have made significant progress in this direction\, exploring both the classical notion of bounded tree-width\, and concepts of more structural flavor. This talk will survey some of these ideas and results.\n\n\n12/15/21\nConstantin Teleman (UC Berkeley)\nTitle: The Kapustin-Rozanski-Saulina “2-category” of a holomorphic integrable system \nAbstract: I will present a construction of the object in the title which\, applied to the classical Toda system\, controls the theory of categorical representations of compact Lie groups\, along with applications (some conjectural\, some rigorous) to gauged Gromov-Witten theory. Time permitting\, we will review applications to Coulomb branches and the categorified Weyl character formula.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/colloquium-2021-22/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220106T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220106T100000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240215T093525Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240529T175141Z
UID:10002721-1641459600-1641463200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The smooth closing lemma for area-preserving surface diffeomorphisms
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Boyu Zhang\, Princeton University \nTitle: The smooth closing lemma for area-preserving surface diffeomorphisms \nAbstract: In this talk\, I will introduce the smooth closing lemma for area-preserving diffeomorphisms on surfaces. The proof is based on a Weyl formula for PFH spectral invariants and a non-vanishing result of twisted Seiberg- Witten Floer homology. This is joint work with Dan Cristofaro-Gardiner and Rohil Prasad.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-6-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-01.06.22.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220114T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220114T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240214T090947Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T112406Z
UID:10002609-1642152600-1642156200@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Light strings\, strong coupling\, and the Swampland
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Max Wiesner\n\nTitle: Light strings\, strong coupling\, and the Swampland \nAbstract: In this talk\, I will start by reviewing central ideas of the so-called Swampland Program. The Swampland Program aims to identify criteria that distinguish low-energy effective field theories\, that can be consistently coupled to quantum gravity\, from those theories that become inconsistent in the presence of quantum gravity. \nIn my talk I will specialize to four-dimensional effective field theories with N=2 and N=1 supersymmetry. In weakly-coupled regions of the scalar field space of such theories\, it has been shown that light strings are crucial to realize certain Swampland criteria. Complementary to that\, the focus of this talk will be on the role of such light strings away from these weak-coupling regimes. In this context\, I will first discuss a relation between light perturbative strings and strong coupling singularities in the Kähler moduli space of 4d N=1 compactifications of F-theory. More precisely\, in regions of moduli space\, in which a critical string classically becomes light\, I will show that non-perturbative corrections yield to strong coupling singularities for D7-brane gauge theories which obstruct weak-coupling limits. Moreover\, I will demonstrate that in the vicinity of this strong coupling singularity\, the critical\, light string in fact leaves the spectrum of BPS strings thereby providing an explanation for the obstruction of the weak coupling limit. \nI will then move on and discuss the backreaction of perturbative strings in 4d EFTs. Away from the string core\, the backreaction of such strings necessarily leads to strong coupling regions where naively the energy stored in the backreaction diverges. I will show how the introduction of additional non-critical strings can regulate this backreaction and how this can be used to study the spectrum of BPS strings and their tensions even beyond weak coupling regions. In this context\, I will demonstrate how the requirement\, that the total string tension should not exceed the Planck scale\, constrains the possible BPS string charges.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-14-2022-member-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220118T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220118T160000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240214T092207Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T075905Z
UID:10002620-1642516200-1642521600@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Metals with strongly correlated electrons: quantum criticality\, disordered interactions\, Planckian dissipation\, and scale invariance
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Aavishkar Patel (UC Berkeley) \nTitle: Metals with strongly correlated electrons: quantum criticality\, disordered interactions\, Planckian dissipation\, and scale invariance \nAbstract: Metals that do not fit Landau’s famous Fermi liquid paradigm of quasiparticles are plentiful in experiments\, but constructing their theoretical description is a major challenge in modern quantum many-body physics. I will describe new models that can systematically describe such non-Fermi liquid metals at quantum critical points\, and that allow for the accurate computation of a whole host of experimentally measurable static and dynamic quantities despite the presence of both strong correlations and disorder. I will further demonstrate that disorder coupling to interaction operators can lead to the experimentally observed linear-in-temperature (T-linear) resistivity seen at metallic quantum critical points\, and can also generate the observed universal “Planckian” transport scattering rate of kBT/ℏ. Finally\, I will show that “perfect” T-linear resistivity is associated with an energy invariant quantity defined in the many-body microcanonical ensemble\, which motivates the existence of a deep connection between the T-linear resistivity seen at high temperatures and low temperatures with the same slope in many quantum critical materials.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-18-2022-quantum-matter-in-mathematics-and-physics/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Quantum Matter
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-QMMP-1.18.22-1544x2048-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220120T145200
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220120T165200
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240215T093039Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T093039Z
UID:10002719-1642690320-1642697520@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:1/20/2022 – Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Title: Markov chains\, optimal control\, and reinforcement learning \nAbstract: Markov decision processes are a model for several artificial intelligence problems\, such as games (chess\, Go…) or robotics. At each timestep\, an agent has to choose an action\, then receives a reward\, and then the agent’s environment changes (deterministically or stochastically) in response to the agent’s action. The agent’s goal is to adjust its actions to maximize its total reward. In principle\, the optimal behavior can be obtained by dynamic programming or optimal control techniques\, although practice is another story. \nHere we consider a more complex problem: learn all optimal behaviors for all possible reward functions in a given environment. Ideally\, such a “controllable agent” could be given a description of a task (reward function\, such as “you get +10 for reaching here but -1 for going through there”) and immediately perform the optimal behavior for that task. This requires a good understanding of the mapping from a reward function to the associated optimal behavior. \nWe prove that there exists a particular “map” of a Markov decision process\, on which near-optimal behaviors for all reward functions can be read directly by an algebraic formula. Moreover\, this “map” is learnable by standard deep learning techniques from random interactions with the environment. We will present our recent theoretical and empirical results in this direction.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-20-2022-interdisciplinary-science-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary Science Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Interdisciplinary-Science-Seminar-01.20.22-1577x2048-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220121T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220121T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240214T090725Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T112306Z
UID:10002607-1642757400-1642761000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:AdS with Scale Separation
DESCRIPTION:Member Seminar \nSpeaker: Daniel Junghans\n\nTitle: AdS with Scale Separation \nAbstract: I will talk about Anti-de Sitter solutions in string theory with a parametric separation between the AdS curvature scale and the Kaluza-Klein scale. In particular\, I will discuss recent progress on computing backreaction corrections in such solutions\, and I will explain how to construct solutions without Romans mass that can be lifted to M-theory.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-21-2022-member-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Member Seminar
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220124T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220521T170000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20230904T083438Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240215T103430Z
UID:10000055-1643014800-1653152400@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:General Relativity Program
DESCRIPTION:During the Spring 2022 semester\, the CMSA hosted a program on General Relativity. \nThis semester-long program included four minicourses\,  a conference\, and a workshop. \nGeneral Relativity Mincourses: March–May\, 2022 \nGeneral Relativity Conference: April 4–8\, 2022 \nGeneral Relativity Workshop: May 2–5\, 2022 \n  \nProgram Visitors \n\nDan Lee\, CMSA/CUNY\, 1/24/22 – 5/20/22\nStefan Czimek\, Brown\, 2/27/22 – 3/3/22\nLan-Hsuan Huang\, University of Connecticut\, 3/13/22 – 3/19/222\, 3/21/22 – 3/25/22\, 4/17 /22– 4/23/22\nMu-Tao Wang\, Columbia\, 3/21/22 – 3/25/22\, 5/7/22 – 5/9/22\nPo-Ning Chen\, University of California\, Riverside\, 3/21/22 – 3/25/22\,  5/7/22–5/9/22\nMarnie Smith\, Imperial College London\, 3/27/22 – 4/11/22\nChristopher Stith\, University of Michigan\, 3/27/22 – 4/23/22\nMartin Taylor\, Imperial College London\,  3/27/22 – 4/11/22\nMarcelo Disconzi\, Vanderbilt\, 5/9/22 – 5/21/22\nLydia Bieri\, University of Michigan\, 5/5/22 – 5/9/22\n\n 
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/general-relativity-program/
LOCATION:CMSA Room G10\, CMSA\, 20 Garden Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Event,Programs
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/GR-Program-Banner_800x450-2.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220125T013000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220125T150000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240213T102636Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240213T102636Z
UID:10002425-1643074200-1643122800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:11/7/2018 Hodge Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/11-7-2018-hodge-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220125T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220125T100000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240213T111559Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240304T105047Z
UID:10002485-1643101200-1643104800@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Adventures in Perturbation Theory
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Recent years have seen tremendous advances in our understanding of perturbative quantum field theory—fueled largely by discoveries (and eventual explanations and exploitation) of shocking simplicity in the mathematical form of the predictions made for experiment. Among the most important frontiers in this progress is the understanding of loop amplitudes—their mathematical form\, underlying geometric structure\, and how best to manifest the physical properties of finite observables in general quantum field theories. This work is motivated in part by the desire to simplify the difficult work of doing Feynman integrals. I review some of the examples of this progress\, and describe some ongoing efforts to recast perturbation theory in terms that expose as much simplicity (and as much physics) as possible.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/1-25-2022-combinatorics-physics-and-probability-seminar/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Combinatorics Physics and Probability
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Combinatorics-Physics-and-Probability-Seminar-01.25.2022-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220126T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220126T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240213T111527Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240304T103510Z
UID:10002484-1643189400-1643193000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:CMSA Colloquium
DESCRIPTION:During the 2021–22 academic year\, the CMSA will be hosting a Colloquium\, organized by Du Pei\, Changji Xu\, and Michael Simkin. It will take place on Wednesdays at 9:30am – 10:30am (Boston time). The meetings will take place virtually on Zoom. All CMSA postdocs/members are required to attend the weekly CMSA Members’ Seminars\, as well as the weekly CMSA Colloquium series. The schedule below will be updated as talks are confirmed. \nSpring 2022\n\n\n\n\nDate\nSpeaker\nTitle/Abstract\n\n\n1/26/2022\nSamir Mathur (Ohio State University)\nTitle: The black hole information paradox \nAbstract: In 1975\, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes radiate away in a manner that violates quantum theory. Starting in 1997\, it was observed that black holes in string theory did not have the form expected from general relativity: in place of “empty space will all the mass at the center\,” one finds a “fuzzball” where the mass is distributed throughout the interior of the horizon. This resolves the paradox\, but opposition to this resolution came from groups who sought to extrapolate some ideas in holography. In 2009 it was shown\, using some theorems from quantum information theory\, that these extrapolations were incorrect\, and the fuzzball structure was essential for resolving the puzzle. Opposition continued along different lines\, with a postulate that information would leak out through wormholes. Recently\, it was shown that this wormhole idea had some basic flaws\, leaving the fuzzball paradigm as the natural resolution of Hawking’s puzzle. \nVideo\n\n\n2/2/2022\nAdam Smith (Boston University)\nTitle: Learning and inference from sensitive data \nAbstract: Consider an agency holding a large database of sensitive personal information—say\,  medical records\, census survey answers\, web searches\, or genetic data. The agency would like to discover and publicly release global characteristics of the data while protecting the privacy of individuals’ records. \nI will discuss recent (and not-so-recent) results on this problem with a focus on the release of statistical models. I will first explain some of the fundamental limitations on the release of machine learning models—specifically\, why such models must sometimes memorize training data points nearly completely. On the more positive side\, I will present differential privacy\, a rigorous definition of privacy in statistical databases that is now widely studied\, and increasingly used to analyze and design deployed systems. I will explain some of the challenges of sound statistical inference based on differentially private statistics\, and lay out directions for future investigation.\n\n\n2/8/2022\nWenbin Yan (Tsinghua University)\n(special time: 9:30 pm ET)\nTitle: Tetrahedron instantons and M-theory indices \nAbstract: We introduce and study tetrahedron instantons. Physically they capture instantons on $\mathbb{C}^{3}$ in the presence of the most general intersecting codimension-two supersymmetric defects. In this talk\, we will review instanton moduli spaces\, explain the construction\, moduli space and partition functions of tetrahedron instantons. We will also point out possible relations with M-theory index which could be a generalization of Gupakuma-Vafa theory. \nVideo\n\n\n2/16/2022\nTakuro Mochizuki (Kyoto University)\nTitle: Kobayashi-Hitchin correspondences for harmonic bundles and monopoles \nAbstract: In 1960’s\, Narasimhan and Seshadri discovered the equivalence\nbetween irreducible unitary flat bundles and stable bundles of degree $0$ on compact Riemann surfaces. In 1980’s\, Donaldson\, Uhlenbeck and Yau generalized it to the equivalence between irreducible Hermitian-Einstein bundles\nand stable bundles on smooth projective varieties. This is a surprising bridge connecting differential geometry and algebraic geometry. Since then\, many interesting generalizations have been studied. \nIn this talk\, we would like to review a stream in the study of such correspondences for Higgs bundles\, integrable connections\, $D$-modules and periodic monopoles.\n\n\n2/23/2022\nBartek Czech (Tsinghua University)\n\n\n\n3/2/2022\nRichard Kenyon (Yale University)\n\n\n\n3/9/2022\nRichard Tsai (UT Austin)\n\n\n\n3/23/2022\nJoel Cohen (University of Maryland)\n\n\n\n3/30/2022\nRob Leigh (UIUC)\n\n\n\n4/6/2022\nJohannes Kleiner (LMU München)\n\n\n\n4/13/2022\nYuri Manin (Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik)\n\n\n\n4/20/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n4/27/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/4/2022\nMelody Chan (Brown University)\n\n\n\n5/11/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/18/2022\nTBA\n\n\n\n5/25/2022\nHeeyeon Kim (Rutgers University)\n\n\n\n\n\nFall 2021\n\n\n\n\nDate\nSpeaker\nTitle/Abstract\n\n\n9/15/2021\nTian Yang\, Texas A&M\nTitle: Hyperbolic Geometry and Quantum Invariants \nAbstract: There are two very different approaches to 3-dimensional topology\, the hyperbolic geometry following the work of Thurston and the quantum invariants following the work of Jones and Witten. These two approaches are related by a sequence of problems called the Volume Conjectures. In this talk\, I will explain these conjectures and present some recent joint works with Ka Ho Wong related to or benefited from this relationship.\n\n\n9/29/2021\nDavid Jordan\, University of Edinburgh\nTitle: Langlands duality for 3 manifolds \nAbstract: Langlands duality began as a deep and still mysterious conjecture in number theory\, before branching into a similarly deep and mysterious conjecture of Beilinson and Drinfeld concerning the algebraic geometry of Riemann surfaces. In this guise it was given a physical explanation in the framework of 4-dimensional super symmetric quantum field theory by Kapustin and Witten.  However to this day the Hilbert space attached to 3-manifolds\, and hence the precise form of Langlands duality for them\, remains a mystery. \nIn this talk I will propose that so-called “skein modules” of 3-manifolds give natural candidates for these Hilbert spaces at generic twisting parameter Psi \, and I will explain a Langlands duality in this setting\, which we have conjectured with Ben-Zvi\, Gunningham and Safronov. \nIntriguingly\, the precise formulation of such a conjecture in the classical limit Psi=0 is still an open question\, beyond the scope of the talk.\n\n\n10/06/2021\nPiotr Sulkowski\, U Warsaw\nTitle: Strings\, knots and quivers \nAbstract: I will discuss a recently discovered relation between quivers and knots\, as well as – more generally – toric Calabi-Yau manifolds. In the context of knots this relation is referred to as the knots-quivers correspondence\, and it states that various invariants of a given knot are captured by characteristics of a certain quiver\, which can be associated to this knot. Among others\, this correspondence enables to prove integrality of LMOV invariants of a knot by relating them to motivic Donaldson-Thomas invariants of the corresponding quiver\, it provides a new insight on knot categorification\, etc. This correspondence arises from string theory interpretation and engineering of knots in brane systems in the conifold geometry; replacing the conifold by other toric Calabi-Yau manifolds leads to analogous relations between such manifolds and quivers.\n\n\n10/13/2021\nAlexei Oblomkov\, University of Massachusetts\nTitle: Knot homology and sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of points on the plane. \nAbstract: The knot homology (defined by Khovavov\, Rozansky) provide us with a refinement of the knot polynomial knot invariant defined by Jones. However\, the knot homology are much harder to compute compared to the polynomial invariant of Jones. In my talk I present recent developments that allow us to use tools of algebraic geometry to compute the homology of torus knots and prove long-standing conjecture on the Poincare duality the knot homology. In more details\, using physics ideas of Kapustin-Rozansky-Saulina\, in the joint work with Rozansky\, we provide a mathematical construction that associates to a braid on n strands a complex of sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of n points on the plane.  The knot homology of the closure of the braid is a space of sections of this sheaf. The sheaf is also invariant with respect to the natural symmetry of the plane\, the symmetry is the geometric counter-part of the mentioned Poincare duality.\n\n\n10/20/2021\nPeng Shan\, Tsinghua U\nTitle: Categorification and applications \nAbstract: I will give a survey of the program of categorification for quantum groups\, some of its recent development and applications to representation theory.\n\n\n10/27/2021\nKarim Adiprasito\, Hebrew University and University of Copenhagen\nTitle: Anisotropy\, biased pairing theory and applications \nAbstract: Not so long ago\, the relations between algebraic geometry and combinatorics were strictly governed by the former party\, with results like log-concavity of the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of matroids shackled by intuitions and techniques from projective algebraic geometry\, specifically Hodge Theory. And so\, while we proved analogues for these results\, combinatorics felt subjugated to inspirations from outside of it.\nIn recent years\, a new powerful technique has emerged: Instead of following the geometric statements of Hodge theory about signature\, we use intuitions from the Hall marriage theorem\, translated to algebra: once there\, they are statements about self-pairings\, the non-degeneracy of pairings on subspaces to understand the global geometry of the pairing. This was used to establish Lefschetz type theorems far beyond the scope of algebraic geometry\, which in turn established solutions to long-standing conjectures in combinatorics. \nI will survey this theory\, called biased pairing theory\, and new developments within it\, as well as new applications to combinatorial problems. Reporting on joint work with Stavros Papadaki\, Vasiliki Petrotou and Johanna Steinmeyer.\n\n\n11/03/2021\nTamas Hausel\, IST Austria\nTitle: Hitchin map as spectrum of equivariant cohomology \nAbstract: We will explain how to model the Hitchin integrable system on a certain Lagrangian upward flow as the spectrum of equivariant cohomology of a Grassmannian.\n\n\n11/10/2021\nPeter Keevash\, Oxford\nTitle: Hypergraph decompositions and their applications\n\nAbstract: Many combinatorial objects can be thought of as a hypergraph decomposition\, i.e. a partition of (the edge set of) one hypergraph into (the edge sets of) copies of some other hypergraphs. For example\, a Steiner Triple System is equivalent to a decomposition of a complete graph into triangles. In general\, Steiner Systems are equivalent to decompositions of complete uniform hypergraphs into other complete uniform hypergraphs (of some specified sizes). The Existence Conjecture for Combinatorial Designs\, which I proved in 2014\, states that\, bar finitely many exceptions\, such decompositions exist whenever the necessary ‘divisibility conditions’ hold. I also obtained a generalisation to the quasirandom setting\, which implies an approximate formula for the number of designs; in particular\, this resolved Wilson’s Conjecture on the number of Steiner Triple Systems. A more general result that I proved in 2018 on decomposing lattice-valued vectors indexed by labelled complexes provides many further existence and counting results for a wide range of combinatorial objects\, such as resolvable designs (the generalised form of Kirkman’s Schoolgirl Problem)\, whist tournaments or generalised Sudoku squares. In this talk\, I plan to review this background and then describe some more recent and ongoing applications of these results and developments of the ideas behind them.\n\n\n11/17/2021\nAndrea Brini\, U Sheffield\nTitle: Curve counting on surfaces and topological strings \nAbstract: Enumerative geometry is a venerable subfield of Mathematics\, with roots dating back to Greek Antiquity and a present inextricably linked with developments in other domains. Since the early 90s\, in particular\, the interaction with String Theory has sent shockwaves through the subject\, giving both unexpected new perspectives and a remarkably powerful\, physics-motivated toolkit to tackle several traditionally hard questions in the field.\nI will survey some recent developments in this vein for the case of enumerative invariants associated to a pair (X\, D)\, with X a complex algebraic surface and D a singular anticanonical divisor in it. I will describe a surprising web of correspondences linking together several a priori distant classes of enumerative invariants associated to (X\, D)\, including the log Gromov-Witten invariants of the pair\, the Gromov-Witten invariants of an associated higher dimensional Calabi-Yau variety\, the open Gromov-Witten invariants of certain special Lagrangians in toric Calabi–Yau threefolds\, the Donaldson–Thomas theory of a class of symmetric quivers\, and certain open and closed Gopakumar-Vafa-type invariants. I will also discuss how these correspondences can be effectively used to provide a complete closed-form solution to the calculation of all these invariants.\n\n\n12/01/2021\nRichard Wentworth\, University of Maryland\nTitle: The Hitchin connection for parabolic G-bundles \nAbstract: For a simple and simply connected complex group G\, I will discuss some elements of the proof of the existence of a flat projective connection on the bundle of nonabelian theta functions on the moduli space of semistable parabolic G-bundles over families of smooth projective curves with marked points. Under the isomorphism with the bundle of conformal blocks\, this connection is equivalent to the one constructed by conformal field theory. This is joint work with Indranil Biswas and Swarnava Mukhopadhyay.\n\n\n12/08/2021\nMaria Chudnovsky\, Princeton\nTitle: Induced subgraphs and tree decompositions \nAbstract: Tree decompositions are a powerful tool in both structural\ngraph theory and graph algorithms. Many hard problems become tractable if the input graph is known to have a tree decomposition of bounded “width”. Exhibiting a particular kind of a tree decomposition is also a useful way to describe the structure of a graph. \nTree decompositions have traditionally been used in the context of forbidden graph minors; bringing them into the realm of forbidden induced subgraphs has until recently remained out of reach. Over the last couple of years we have made significant progress in this direction\, exploring both the classical notion of bounded tree-width\, and concepts of more structural flavor. This talk will survey some of these ideas and results.\n\n\n12/15/21\nConstantin Teleman (UC Berkeley)\nTitle: The Kapustin-Rozanski-Saulina “2-category” of a holomorphic integrable system \nAbstract: I will present a construction of the object in the title which\, applied to the classical Toda system\, controls the theory of categorical representations of compact Lie groups\, along with applications (some conjectural\, some rigorous) to gauged Gromov-Witten theory. Time permitting\, we will review applications to Coulomb branches and the categorified Weyl character formula.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/cmsa-colloquium/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220126T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220126T103000
DTSTAMP:20260510T115140
CREATED:20240214T042022Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240502T155237Z
UID:10002526-1643189400-1643193000@cmsa.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:The black hole information paradox
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Samir Mathur (Ohio State University) \nTitle: The black hole information paradox \nAbstract: In 1975\, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes radiate away in a manner that violates quantum theory. Starting in 1997\, it was observed that black holes in string theory did not have the form expected from general relativity: in place of “empty space will all the mass at the center\,” one finds a “fuzzball” where the mass is distributed throughout the interior of the horizon. This resolves the paradox\, but opposition to this resolution came from groups who sought to extrapolate some ideas in holography. In 2009 it was shown\, using some theorems from quantum information theory\, that these extrapolations were incorrect\, and the fuzzball structure was essential for resolving the puzzle. Opposition continued along different lines\, with a postulate that information would leak out through wormholes. Recently\, it was shown that this wormhole idea had some basic flaws\, leaving the fuzzball paradigm as the natural resolution of Hawking’s puzzle.
URL:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/the-black-hole-information-paradox/
LOCATION:MA
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/media/CMSA-Colloquium-01.26.2022-1.png
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