Probability Seminar Speaker: Catherine Wolfram (MIT) Title: Large deviations for the 3D dimer model Abstract: A dimer tiling of Z^d is a collection of edges such that every vertex is covered exactly once. In 2000, Cohn, Kenyon, and Propp showed that 2D dimer tilings satisfy a large deviations principle. In joint work with Nishant Chandgotia […]
Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Max Lavrentovich, Worcester State University Title: Strongly driven mixtures and membranes: Out of equilibrium surprises Abstract: The more prosaic cousin of active matter, driven inactive matter, is still full of unexpected phenomena. I will discuss two projects involving two seemingly mundane systems, a phase-separating colloidal mixture and a lipid membrane, which demonstrate […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Cenke Xu (UCSB) Title: Quantum field theory approach to quantum information Abstract: We apply the formalism of quantum field theory and Euclidean space-time path integral to investigate a class of quantum information problems. In particular, we investigate quantum many-body systems under weak-measurement and decoherence. The Euclidean space-time path integral allows us […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Kai Xu (CMSA) Title: Moduli of vector bundles on curve and semiorthogonal decomposition Abstract: In this talk we construct semiorthogonal decompositions of moduli of vector bundles on a curve into its symmetric powers. The essential ingredients in the proof include Borel-Weil-Bott theory for loop groups, derived Schur-Weyl duality for current groups and derived […]
Special Seminar Speaker: Mayuko Yamashita, Kyoto University Title: Topological modular forms and heretoric string theory Abstract: In this talk I will explain my works with Y. Tachikawa to study anomaly in heterotic string theory via homotopy theory, especially the theory of Topological Modular Forms (TMF). TMF is an E-infinity ring spectrum which is conjectured by […]
Algebraic Geometry in String Theory Seminar Pre-talk Speaker: Kai Xu (CMSA): 10:00-10:30 am Speaker: Kai Xu (CMSA) Title: Motivic decomposition of moduli space from brane dynamics Abstract: Supersymmetric gauge theories encode deep structures in algebraic geometry, and geometric engineering gives a powerful way to understand the underlying structures by string/M theory. In this talk we will see […]
Speaker: Yu-Shen Lin (Boston University) Title: Gravitational Instantons Abstract: Gravitational instantons were introduced by Hawking as building blocks of his Euclidean quantum gravity theory back in the 1970s. These are non-compact Calabi-Yau surfaces with L2 curvature and thus can be viewed as the non-compact analogue of K3 surfaces. K3 surfaces are 2-dimensional Calabi-Yau manifolds and […]
General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Chethan Krishnan (IISc Bangalore) Title: A Smooth Horizon without a Smooth Horizon Abstract: I will talk about some work that is about to appear, where we note one precise way in which the stretched horizon can simulate a smooth horizon. I will also make an effort to put things in some perspective (brickwalls, […]
CMSA Q and A Seminar Speakers: Dan Freed (Harvard Math & CMSA) and Dan Berwick-Evans (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Topics: Dan Freed: What is framing anomaly? How is it different from other anomalies? Dan Berwick-Evans: What is Atiyah-Singer index theorem?
https://youtu.be/7sA3r5M1oT8 <strong>Topological Quantum Matter Seminar</strong> <strong>Speaker:</strong> Ho Tat Lam, MIT <strong>Title:</strong> Dipolar and modulated symmetry protected topological phases <strong>Abstract:</strong> Modulated symmetries are symmetries whose symmetry generators exhibit spatial modulations. We will discuss one-dimensional symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases protected by modulated symmetries. We will present a simple recipe for constructing modulated SPT models by generalizing the […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Benjamin McKenna Title: Random matrices and large deviations Abstract: We give a generalist overview of random matrices and their (a)typical behaviors. In recent years, classical results have been complemented by a variety of new ones, in both the math and physics literatures, whose proofs leverage connections with special integrals over matrix groups. Some of these […]
General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Maria Rodriguez (Utah) Title: Tidal Squeezing of Black Holes Abstract: Recent developments indicate that Kerr black holes do not deform when perturbed by a static external gravitational field. Relying on hidden symmetries, compelling progress has been achieved to explain that Love numbers for Kerr black holes vanish. How does the phenomenon of tidal squeezing manifest in broader […]