• Quasi-Local Mass in a Binary Black Hole Merger

    Virtual

    https://youtu.be/cboxkchYFUk General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Daniel Kolb (Max Planck Institute) Title: Quasi-Local Mass in a Binary Black Hole Merger Abstract: One of the major open problems in classical general relativity is how one should define the mass of a finite region of space. In this talk, we will investigate a promising definition proposed by Wang and […]

  • Fitting ellipsoids to random points

    Virtual

    Probability Seminar Speaker: Antoine Maillard (ETH Zürich) Title: Fitting ellipsoids to random points Abstract: We consider the problem of exactly fitting an ellipsoid (centered at 0) to n standard Gaussian random vectors in dimension d, for very large n and d. This problem has connections to questions in statistical learning and theoretical computer science, and is […]

  • Unveiling Correlated Topological Insulators through Fermionic Tensor Network States

    Virtual

    https://youtu.be/NFHUt0lnaUA Topological Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Shenghan Jiang, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences UCAS Title: Unveiling Correlated Topological Insulators through Fermionic Tensor Network States Abstract: The study of topological band insulators has revealed fascinating phases characterized by band topology indices, harboring extraordinary boundary modes protected by anomalous symmetry actions. In strongly correlated systems, it has […]

  • Tail estimates for stationary KPZ models

    Virtual

    Probability Seminar Speaker: Benjamin Landon (University of Toronto) Title: Tail estimates for stationary KPZ models Abstract: The limiting distributions of the KPZ universality class exhibit tail exponents of 3/2 and 3. In this talk we will review recent work studying the upper tail exponent 3/2 in the moderate deviations regime of several KPZ models at […]

  • The TinyStories Dataset: How Small Can Language Models Be And Still Speak Coherent

    Virtual

    https://youtu.be/wTQH6mRDXhw New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar Speaker: Ronen Eldan, Microsoft Research Title: The TinyStories Dataset: How Small Can Language Models Be And Still Speak Coherent Abstract: While generative language models exhibit powerful capabilities at large scale, when either the model or the number of training steps is too small, they struggle to produce coherent and fluent […]

  • Two of my favorite numbers: 8 and 24

    Virtual

    Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: John Baez (University of California, Riverside) Title: Two of my favorite numbers: 8 and 24 Abstract: The numbers 8 and 24 play special roles in mathematics. The number 8 is special because of Bott periodicity, the octonions and the E8 lattice, while 24 is special for many reasons, including the binary […]

  • Monopoles, Scattering, and Generalized Symmetries

    Virtual

    Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Marieke Van Beest (SCGP) Title: Monopoles, Scattering, and Generalized Symmetries Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss the problem of electrically charged, massless fermions scattering off magnetic monopoles. The interpretation of the outgoing states has long been a puzzle, as they can carry fractional quantum numbers. We argue that such outgoing […]

  • Chiral fermionic CFTs of central charge ≤ 16

    Virtual

    Quantum Matter Seminar Title: Chiral fermionic CFTs of central charge ≤ 16 Abstract: We classified all chiral fermionic CFTs of central charge ≤ 16 using Kac's theorem and bosonization/fermionization. This talk will discuss the derivation of this result, its application to the classification of non-supersymmetric heterotic string theories, and along the way we'll address some […]

  • Small Bosonic CFTs, Chiral Fermionization, and Symmetry/Subalgebra Duality

    Virtual

    Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Brandon C. Rayhaun (C. N. Yang ITP, Stony Brook University) Title: Small Bosonic CFTs, Chiral Fermionization, and Symmetry/Subalgebra Duality Abstract: Conformal field theories in (1+1)D are key actors in many dramas of physics and mathematics. Their classification has therefore been an important and long-standing problem. In this talk, I will explain […]

  • Classification of Self-Dual Vertex Operator Superalgebras of Central Charge at Most 24

    Virtual

    Quantum Matter Seminar Speakers: Gerald Höhn (Kansas State University) & Sven Möller (University of Hamburg) Title: Classification of Self-Dual Vertex Operator Superalgebras of Central Charge at Most 24 Abstract: We discuss the classfication of self-dual vertex operator superalgebras (SVOAs) of central charge 24, or in physics parlance the purely chiral 2-dimensional fermionic conformal field theories […]

  • Anomalies of (1+1)D categorical symmetries

    Virtual

    Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Carolyn Zhang (U Chicago) Title: Anomalies of (1+1)D categorical symmetries Abstract: We present a general approach for detecting when a fusion category symmetry is anomalous, based on the existence of a special kind of Lagrangian algebra of the corresponding Drinfeld center. The Drinfeld center of a fusion category $A$ describes a […]

  • Positivity of Static quasi-local Mass in general relativity

    Virtual

    https://youtu.be/b4vyZvml0aw General Relativity Seminar Speaker: Aghil Alaee, Clark University Title: Positivity of Static quasi-local Mass in general relativity Abstract: In this talk, we review results on the PMT of quasi-local masses and prove the positivity of static quasi-local masses with respect to the AdS and AdS Schwarzschild spacetimes.