Title: The Silk Road to 2-Dimensional Quantum Gravity: From Chern-Tenenblat to Jackiw-Teitelboim

Speaker: Jeff Murugan (Cape Town)

Time: 11:30-15:05 (GMT+0), 2021.08.05

Abstract:

Some of the most exciting developments in quantum gravity in the past five or so years have taken place in 2-spacetime dimensions in an alternative theory of gravity called Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity. Much of these developments have to do with exotic-sounding things like replicas, wormholes and Schwarzians. As it turns out, there is another story to be told about solutions of JT gravity, one that has more to do with integrable equations and pseudo-spherical surfaces and in which S.S. Chern plays a pivotal role. In this talk, I will share some of this wonderful story.