Journal club seminar: Replica Wormholes and the Entropy of Hawking Radiation

Speaker: Yasha Neiman

Title: Replica Wormholes and the Entropy of Hawking Radiation

Abstract :We are going to discuss the recent paper by Ahmed Almheiri, Thomas Hartman, Juan Maldacena, Edgar Shaghoulian and Amirhossein Tajdini  "Replica Wormholes and the Entropy of Hawking Radiation" 

[Seminar] "Out of time ordered effective dynamics of a quartic oscillator" by Dr. Bidisha Chakrabarty

Speaker: Dr. Bidisha Chakrabarty, ICTS-TIFR

Group Meeting: Review of Higher Spin Theories - Part 3

This will be the concluding part of the series of lectures on Higher Spin theories by Mirian Tsulaia. 

Abstract:  In today's talk we will discuss Vasiliev's formulation of Higher Spin theories, focussing in particular on the topic of free and nonlinear unfolded equations. 

Theoretical Physics Seminar: Seva Nikulin

Theoretical Physics Seminar.
Speaker: Seva Nikulin.
Title: "De Sitter space as a space of probability distributions".

Journal club seminar: Knots, the Jones Polynomial, and Khovanov homology

Speaker: Andrew Lobb

Title: Knots, the Jones Polynomial, and Khovanov homology.

Abstract : I shall give constructions of the Jones polynomial and of Khovanov homology.  These are both invariants of knots -- the former is a polynomial, the latter is a vector space.  They are interesting for many reasons and their construction is beautiful.  There are deep connections with physics on which I'm not really qualified to comment (apologies), but those able may try looking at Kauffman's book "Knots and Physics", Witten's "Quantum Field Theory and the Jones Polynomial", or Gukov-Schwarz-Vafa's "Khovanov-Rozansky homology and topological strings".  No knowledge of anything is assumed, and questions are encouraged.

[Seminar] "Making string theory great again" by Prof. Eoin Ó Colgáin

Speaker: Prof. Eoin Ó Colgáin from APCTP

Journal club seminar: Basics of Covariant Quantization of Superstring

  Mirian Tsulaila will tell us about "Basics of Covariant Quantization of Superstring". The useful references are  ICTP Lectures on Covariant Quantization of the Superstring  and Multiloop Amplitudes and Vanishing Theorems using the Pure Spinor Formalism for the Superstrin The Green-Schwarz formulation of superstring is described in the String theory book by M. Green, J. Schwarz and E. Witten  (chapter 5).

Group Meeting: Review of Higher Spin Theories - Part 2

In this talk Mirian Tsulaia will continue with his review of Higher Spin Theories. 

Abstract: This a continuation of the previous talk in this series. Today we shall discuss Vasiliev's formalism and in particular talk about free unfolded equations.

Theoretical Physics Seminar: Miquel Jorquera

Theoretical Physics Seminar.
Speaker: Miquel Jorquera.
Title: "What's so particular about photons?"

Journal club seminar: A potential probe of quantum gravity with large molecular wavepackets

Carlos Villalpando  will tell us about "A potential probe of quantum gravity with large molecular wavepackets". The talk is based on two papers:  Minimal length effect on the broadening of free wave packets and its physical implications  and Indirect Probe of Quantum Gravity using Molecular Wave-packets.

Abstract:  The biggest obstacle for a direct test of quantum gravity is its energy scale, which is well outside of the capabilites of any human-made machine; the next best possible approach then is to provide indirect tests on effective theories of quantum gravity, which can be performed in a lower energy scale. This talk will be aimed in this direction, showing a promising path to test the existence of a fundamental, minimal length scale of Nature, by measuring the dispersion of large molecular wave-packets. The existence of this minimal length would imply a modified commutation relation between position and momentum operators, and as we will see, such a modification of the commutator has a profound effect on the dispersion rate of free wave-packets, providing a path for a potential, indirect test of quantum gravity in a laboratory setting.