Seminars

The High Energy and Particle Physics group seminars are held on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays, and begin promptly at 13:15.
Seminars with physical presence: 2nd floor of the physics department.
Online seminars on Zoom at this link.

Seminars and recordings before 2021 can be found here.

Winter Semester

10 September, 12:15 GR time
 Andreas Stergiou (King's Coll) 

Title: Gradient Properties of RG Flows 

Abstract: General properties of the renormalisation group (RG) are of immense theoretical interest, as they have implications for the evolution of physical systems from high to low energies. In a perturbative setting, RG flows are determined by a vector field, the beta function, that can be computed in a loop expansion. In this talk we will discuss the gradient property of the RG up to six loops in multi-scalar models in d=4 and d=4-ε dimensions. After elucidating a variety of subtleties, we will derive and discuss highly nontrivial constraints that need to be satisfied for the RG flow to be gradient.

1 October, 16:15 GR time
 Andreas Karch (U. Texas, Austin) 

Title: Universal Bounds in interface conformal field theories 

Abstract: Critical phenomena in the presence of interfaces provide a much richer arena than their more studied cousin of boundary critical phenomena. In this talk, I'll review certain observables that are new and unique in interface conformal field theories and then demonstrate some novel bounds we can derive on these quantities using techniques from holography and quantum information.

3 October, 13:15 GR time
 Gabi Zafrir (Technion) 

Title: Dimensionally Reducing Generalized Symmetries from (3+1)-Dimensions

Abstract: Recently there has been a renewed interest in the subject of novel types of symmetries, now known as generalized symmetries. An interesting question is what happens to these more general symmetry structures upon compactification to lower dimensions. In this talk, we shall explore this in the context of the compactification of 4d N=1 SCFTs to 2d on spheres. 

8 October, 13:15 GR time
 Grigorios Fournodavlos (Crete U.) 

Title: On the nature of the Big Bang singularity

Abstract: We will begin with a review of the classical BKL heuristics regarding solutions to the Einstein equations containing a Big Bang singularity. We will discuss the conjectural picture of the very rich dynamics of Big Bang singularities and comment on the existing works in the literature. Then, we will present some of the state of the art results concerning solutions that exhibit Kasner-like behavior.

10 October, 13:15 GR time
 Dimitrios Mitsios (IPhT, Saclay) 

Title: An invitation to topological recursion

Abstract: Topological recursion is a recursive algorithm discovered around 2007. In this talk, our goal is threefold: introduce the algorithm, provide recent results and their motivations, and present the current interests of the field. We will begin by introducing the initial data of topological recursion, which includes a Riemann surface, along with a differential and a bidifferential defined on the surface. Its output is correlation functions that encode the information of interest. Then, we will discuss the example of intersection numbers and new results on this direction. We will conclude with a general overview of the field.

15 October, 13:15 GR time
 Robin Karlsson (CERN) 

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22 October, 16:15 GR time
 Gabriel Cuomo (New York U., CCPP and Princeton U.) 

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24 October, 13:15 GR time
 Li Li (Beijing, Inst. Theor. Phys.) 

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29 October, 13:15 GR time
 Ippocratis D. Saltas (ASCR, Prague) 

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31 October, 13:15 GR time
 Dionysios Anninos (King's Coll.) 

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5 November, 17:15 GR time
 Kenneth Higginbotham (Colorado U.) 

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7 November, 13:15 GR time
 Alexandre Serantes (Gent U.) 

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12 November, 13:15 GR time
 Upamanyu Moitra (ICTP trieste) 

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14 November, 13:15 GR time
 Martin Kruczenski (Purdue U.) 

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21 Novemberr, 13:15 GR time
 Richard A. Davison (Heriot-Watt U.) 

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29 November, 13:15 GR time
 Carlo Heissenberg (Qeen Mary, U. of London ) 

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12 December, 17:00 GR time
 Alejandra Castro (Cambridge U.) 

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17 December, 17:15 GR time
 Steven B. Giddings (UC, Santa Barbara) 

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Spring Semester