• Dec 2: Mile Vrbica (Higgs CTP) on 2406.19790, 2505.14229, 2509.18074

Thermal field theory correlators in the large-N limit and the spectral duality relation

Abstract: Correlation functions in thermal large-N theories (with a holographic dual) are expected to be meromorphic functions of the complex frequency. In this talk, I will discuss several analytic properties of retarded meromorphic correlators, relying heavily on their asymptotic properties and the thermal product formula. Immediate implications follow for the thermal spectra (QNMs) of theories related by double-trace deformations, where they can be shown to obey a “spectral duality relation”. I will present several examples where such a relation can be used to compute one spectrum from the other. Then I will turn to a more interesting case of the thermal CFT3 dual to the Einstein-Maxwell bulk. There, a set of dualities, similar to the particle-vortex self-duality, interplays interestingly with the so-called algebraically special structure of various bulk black hole solutions. This structure has a dramatic imprint on the boundary, where the spectral duality relation now imposes an infinite number of spectral constraints within the same theory.

• Dec 9: Julio Virrueta (Jena U., TPI) on 2510.03404 

A Holographic prescription for generalized Schwinger-Keldysh contours

Abstract: Large Real-time thermal correlators play an important role in our understanding of the holographic duality, relating thermal physics with black hole dynamics. In this context, the construction of a holographic dual to the Schwinger-Keldysh contour and its generalization is crucial. In this talk, I will present a new prescription for computing real-time thermal correlators with arbitrary operator ordering. The main idea is to construct a generalized Schwinger-Keldysh contour by gluing together different black hole geometries. After introducing this new bulk geometry, I will discuss how it can be used to evaluate higher-order thermal correlators in terms of contact Witten diagrams.

• Dec 16: Minjae Cho (LITP, University of Chicago) on 2410.04262, 2508.04764, 2511.08560 

Bootstrapping matrix quantum mechanics: equilibrium and nonequilibrium 

Abstract: Large N matrix quantum mechanics provides an intriguing setup where fundamental questions about quantum gravity can be addressed in practice. In this talk, we discuss how a bootstrap framework based on imposing consistency conditions offers an efficient method to study its physics in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium settings. We first derive bootstrap bounds on its thermal equilibrium properties, which give access to black hole thermodynamics. We then introduce a heat sink for the matrix quanta through Lindblad dissipation dynamics, where the resulting bootstrap bounds provide strong evidence for the existence of a nonequilibrium phase transition. 

• Jan 13: David Simmons-Duffin (Caltech) (Note: This seminar will exceptionally be at 6:30 p.m. CET)

Review talk on conformal bootstrap at finite temperature

• Jan 20: Hong Liu (MIT) on 2509.14327 

Towards a holographic description of closed universes

• Jan 27: Lennart Dabelow (Queen Mary University of London) on 2510.12696 

Temperature and conditions for thermalization after canonical quenches

• Feb 3: Robin Karlsson (Oxford) on 2511.09616 

Bouncing off a stringy singularity

• Feb 10: Simon Caron-Huot (McGill U.) on 2510.21673 

Imprint of the black hole singularity on thermal two-point functions

• Feb 17: Pasquale Calabrese (Sissa) 

Review on entanglement entropy

• Mar 3: Nejc Ceplak (TCD) on 2511.09638 

Fooling the Censor: Going beyond inner horizons with the OPE 

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