• Big Data Conference 2021

    Virtual

    https://youtu.be/_ciQkuGYD-I On August 24, 2021, the CMSA hosted our seventh annual Conference on Big Data. The Conference features many speakers from the Harvard community as well as scholars from across the globe, with talks focusing on computer science, statistics, math and physics, and economics. The 2021 Big Data Conference took place virtually on Zoom. Organizers:  Shing-Tung Yau, […]

  • Naturalness and muon anomalous magnetic moment

    Virtual

    Title: Naturalness and muon anomalous magnetic moment Abstract: We study a model for explaining the apparent deviation of the muon anomalous magnetic moment, (g-2), from the Standard Model expectation. There are no new scalars and hence no new hierarchy puzzles beyond those associated with the Standard model Higgs; the only new particles that are relevant […]

  • Eppur si muovono: rotations in active matter

    Abstract: Living matter relies on the self organization of its components into higher order structures, on the molecular as well as on the cellular, organ or even organism scale. Collective motion due to active transport processes has been shown to be a promising route for attributing fascinating order formation processes on these different length scales. […]

  • Exotic quantum matter: From lattice gauge theory to hyperbolic lattices

    Virtual

    Title: Exotic quantum matter: From lattice gauge theory to hyperbolic lattices Abstract: This talk, in two parts, will discuss two (unrelated) instances of exotic quantum matter. In the first part, I will discuss quantum critical points describing possible transitions out of the Dirac spin liquid, towards either symmetry-breaking phases or topologically ordered spin liquids. I […]

  • Swampland Seminar Series

    During the 2021-22 academic year, the CMSA will be co-hosting a seminar on Swampland, with the Harvard Physics Department, organized by Miguel Montero, Cumrun Vafa, Irene Valenzuela. This seminar is a part of the Swampland Program. This seminar will take place on Mondays at 10:00 am – 11:30 am (Boston time). To learn how to attend, please subscribe here. Talks will […]

  • Derived categories of nodal quintic del Pezzo threefolds

    Abstract: Conifold transitions are important algebraic geometric constructions that have been of special interests in mirror symmetry, transforming Calabi-Yau 3-folds between A- and B-models. In this talk, I will discuss the change of the quintic del Pezzo 3-fold (Fano 3-fold of index 2 and degree 5) under the conifold transition at the level of the […]

  • Cornering the universal shape of fluctuations and entanglement

    Virtual

    Title: Cornering the universal shape of fluctuations and entanglement Abstract: Understanding the fluctuations of observables is one of the main goals in physics. We investigate such fluctuations when a subregion of the full system can be observed, focusing on geometries with corners. We report that the dependence on the opening angle is super-universal: up to […]

  • The complexity of matrix multiplication approached via algebraic geometry and representation theory

    https://youtu.be/leONsS4LiV4 Speaker: JM Landsberg, Texas A&M Title: The complexity of matrix multiplication approached via algebraic geometry and representation theory Abstract: In 1968 V. Strassen discovered the way we usually multiply matrices is not the most efficient possible, and after considerable work by many authors, it is generally conjectured by computer scientists that as the size […]

  • Quantum gravity from quantum matter

    Virtual

    Title: Quantum gravity from quantum matter Abstract: We present a model of quantum gravity in which dimension, topology and geometry of spacetime are collective dynamical variables that describe the pattern of entanglement of underlying quantum matter. As spacetimes with arbitrary dimensions can emerge, the gauge symmetry is generalized to a group that includes diffeomorphisms in […]

  • 9/10/2021 General Relativity Seminar

    Title: Asymptotic localization, massive fields, and gravitational singularities Abstract: I will review three recent developments on Einstein’s field equations under low decay or low regularity conditions. First, the Seed-to-Solution Method for Einstein’s constraint equations, introduced in collaboration with T.-C. Nguyen generates asymptotically Euclidean manifolds with the weakest or strongest possible decay (infinite ADM mass, Schwarzschild […]

  • Threshold phenomena in random graphs and hypergraphs

    Member Seminar Speaker: Michael Simkin Title: Threshold phenomena in random graphs and hypergraphs Abstract: In 1959 Paul Erdos and Alfred Renyi introduced a model of random graphs that is the cornerstone of modern probabilistic combinatorics. Now known as the “Erdos-Renyi” model of random graphs it has far-reaching applications in combinatorics, computer science, and other fields. The […]

  • More Exact Results in Gauge Theories: Confinement and Chiral Symmetry Breaking

    Virtual

    Title: More Exact Results in Gauge Theories: Confinement and Chiral Symmetry Breaking Abstract: In this follow-up to Hitoshi Murayama’s talk “Some Exact Results in QCD-like and Chiral Gauge Theories”, I present a detailed analysis of the phases of $SO(N_c)$ gauge theory. Starting with supersymmetric $SO(N_c)$ with $N_F$ flavors, we extrapolate to the non-supersymmetric limit using […]