Active Matter Seminar Speaker: Shenshen Wang, UCLA Title: Limit and potential of adaptive immunity Abstract: The adaptive immune system is able to learn from past experiences to better fit an unforeseen future. This is made possible by a diverse and dynamic repertoire of cells expressing unique antigen receptors and capable of rapid Darwinian evolution within an individual. However, […]
https://youtu.be/MxXD2yA2pxQ Topological Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Semyon Klevtsov, University of Strasbourg Title: Geometric test for topological states of matter Abstract: We generalize the flux insertion argument due to Laughlin, Niu-Thouless-Tao-Wu, and Avron-Seiler-Zograf to the case of fractional quantum Hall states on a higher-genus surface. We propose this setting as a test to characterise the robustness, or […]
Swampland Seminar Speaker: Samir Mathur (Ohio State) Title: The story of the information paradox Abstract: In 1975 Hawking argued that black hole evaporation would lead to a loss of unitarity in quantum theory. The small corrections theorem made Hawking's argument into a precise statement: if semiclassical physics hold to leading order in any gently curved region of […]
Member Seminar Speaker: Shai Chester Title: Derivation of AdS/CFT for Vector Models Abstract: We derive an explicit map at finite N between the singlet sector of the free and critical O(N) and U(N) vector models in any spacetime dimension above two, and a bulk higher spin theory in anti-de Sitter space in one higher dimension. For the boundary […]
General Relativity Seminar Title: The Gregory-Laflamme instability of black strings revisited Abstract: In this talk I will discuss our recent work that reproduces and extends the famous work of Lehner and Pretorius on the end point of the Gregory-Laflamme instability of black strings. We consider black strings of different thicknesses and our numerics allow us to get closer to the singularity than ever before. In […]
https://youtu.be/D7dqadF5k9Q New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Johan Commelin, Mathematisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg Title: Breaking the one-mind-barrier in mathematics using formal verification Abstract: In this talk I will argue that formal verification helps break the one-mind-barrier in mathematics. Indeed, formal verification allows a team of mathematicians to collaborate on a project, without one person understanding all parts of […]
Colloquium Speaker: Yannai Gonczarowski (Harvard) Title: Strategyproof-Exposing Mechanisms Descriptions Abstract: One of the crowning achievements of the field of Mechanism Design has been the design and usage of the so-called "Deferred Acceptance" matching algorithm. Designed in 1962 and awarded the Nobel Prize in 2012, this algorithm has been used around the world in settings ranging […]
Title: Duality in Einstein’s Gravity Abstract: Electric-Magnetic duality has been a key feature behind our understanding of Quantum Field Theory for over a century. In this talk I will describe a similar property in Einstein’s gravity. The gravitational duality reveals, in turn, a wide range of new IR phenomena, including aspects of the double copy […]
General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Professor Harvey Reall (University of Cambridge) Title: The second law of black hole mechanics in effective field theory Abstract: I shall discuss the second law of black hole mechanics in gravitational theories with higher derivative terms in the action. Wall has described a method for defining an entropy that satisfies the second law […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCSeu7ykzLs&list=PL0NRmB0fnLJQAnYwkpt9PN2PBKx4rvdup&index=5 Quantum Matter in Mathematics and Physics Seminar Speaker: Zhengyan Darius Shi (MIT) Title: Gifts from anomalies: new results on quantum critical transport in non-Fermi liquids Abstract: Non-Fermi liquid phenomena arise naturally near Landau ordering transitions in metallic systems. Here, we leverage quantum anomalies as a powerful nonperturbative tool to calculate optical transport in these models […]
CMSA Interdisciplinary Science Seminar Speaker: Quanquan Liu, Northwestern University Title: Scalable Dynamic Graph Algorithms Abstract: The field of dynamic graph algorithms seeks to understand and compute statistics on real-world networks that undergo changes with time. Some of these networks could have up to millions of edge insertions and deletions per second. In light of these […]
On August 2–5, the CMSA hosted a workshop on Phase Transitions and Topological Defects in the Early Universe. The workshop was held in room G10 of the CMSA, located at 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA and online via Zoom webinar. The next decade will see a wealth of new cosmological data, which can lead to new insights into […]