• Black Hole dynamics at Large D

    Abstract: I demonstrate that black hole dynamics simplifies – without trivializing – in the limit in which the number of spacetime dimensions D in which the black holes live is taken to infinity. In the strict large D limit and under certain conditions I show the equations that govern black hole dynamics reduce to the equations describing the dynamics of a non gravitational membrane propagating in an unperturbed spacetime (e.g. flat space). In the stationary […]

  • Sparse Markov Models for High-dimensional Inference

    Abstract: Finite order Markov models are theoretically well-studied models for dependent data.  Despite their generality, application in empirical work when the order is larger than one is quite rare.  Practitioners avoid using higher order Markov models because (1) the number of parameters grow exponentially with the order, (2) the interpretation is often difficult. Mixture of transition […]

  • Quadratic reciprocity from a family of adelic conformal field theories

    Member Seminar Speaker:An Huang Title: Quadratic reciprocity from a family of adelic conformal field theories Abstract: This talk aims to provide a physics framework to understand quadratic reciprocity. Specifically, we consider a deformation of the two-dimensional free scalar field theory by raising the Laplacian to a positive real power. It turns out that the resulting non-local […]

  • Higgs-Coulomb correspondence in abelian GLSM

    Virtual

    Abstract: We construct a certain type of Gauged Linear Sigma Model quasimap invariants that generalize the original ones and are easier to compute. Higgs-Coulomb correspondence provides identification of generating functions of our invariants with certain analytic functions that can be represented as generalized inverse Mellin transforms. Analytic continuation of these functions provides wall-crossing results for GLSM […]

  • Holographic Cone of Average Entropies and Universality of Black Holes

    Virtual

    Speaker: Bartek Czech, Tsinghua University Title: Holographic Cone of Average Entropies and Universality of Black Holes Abstract:  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 entropies of p-partite subsystems can […]

  • Topological Quantum Gravity and the Ricci Flow – Part II

    Abstract: In this sequence of talks, I will describe our work with Alexander Frenkel and Stephen Randall, in which we presented a novel topological quantum gravity, relating three previously unrelated fields:  Topological quantum field theories (of the cohomological type), the theory of Ricci flows on Riemannian manifolds, and nonrelativistic quantum gravity.  The remarkable richness of […]

  • Extreme Black Holes: Anabasis and Accidental Symmetry

    Virtual

      https://youtu.be/USKZjJ8_LI0   Speaker: Achilleas Porfyriadis, Harvard Black Hole Initiative Title: Extreme Black Holes: Anabasis and Accidental Symmetry Abstract: The near-horizon region of black holes near extremality is universally AdS_2-like. In this talk I will concentrate on the simplest example of  AdS_2 x S^2 as the near-horizon of (near-)extreme Reissner-Nordstrom. I will first explain the SL(2)transformation properties of the spherically […]

  • Taming Active Matter: from ordered topological defects to autonomous shells

    Abstract: The spontaneous emergence of collective flows is a generic property of active fluids and often leads to chaotic flow patterns characterized by swirls, jets, and topological disclinations in their orientation field. I will first discuss two examples of these collective features helping us understand biological processes: (i) to explain the tortoise & hare story in bacterial competition: […]

  • Singular Set in Obstacle Problems

    Abstract: In this talk we describe a new method to study the singular set in the obstacle problem. This method does not depend on monotonicity formulae and works for fully nonlinear elliptic operators. The result we get matches the best-known result for the case of Laplacian.

  • Bridging three-dimensional coupled-wire models and cellular topological states

    Abstract: Three-dimensional (3d) gapped topological phases with fractional excitations are divided into two subclasses: One has topological order with point-like and loop-like excitations fully mobile in the 3d space, and the other has fracton order with point-like excitations constrained in lower-dimensional subspaces. These exotic phases are often studied by exactly solvable Hamiltonians made of commuting projectors, […]