Mathematical Physics

I will review the possible role in Geometric Langlands of N=4 boundary conditions in four-dimensional supersymmetric Yang Mills theory. The action of S-duality on such boundary conditions can be understood in terms of symplectic duality.

K-theoretical/Cohomological Hall algebras, associated with the stack of zero-dimensional sheaves on $\mathbb{C}^2$, play a prominent role in the proof, given by Schiffmann and Vasserot, of the AGT conjecture for (pure) gauge theories on $\mathbb{C}^2$. In the present talk I will describe K-theoretic…

We study the representation theory of truncated shifted Yangians. These algebras arise as quantizations of slices to Schubert varieties in the affine Grassmannian. We will describe the combinatorics of their highest weights, which is encoded in Nakajima's monomial crystal. We also prove Hikita's…

I'll discuss the two topological twists of 3d N=4 theories, and explain how to understand them in the AKSZ/BV formalism, and how they relate to twists of 4d N =2 theories. Symplectic duality then takes the form of an equivalence between 3d N=4 theories which interchanges the two topological twists…

After a quick review of the Higgs and Coulomb branches of 3d N=4 theories, I'll introduce some simple classes of boundary conditions and explain how they lead to (pairs of) modules for certain (pairs of) quantum algebras. I will focus on abelian theories, for which the relevant boundary conditions…

It has become a platitute to say that black holes are fascinating objects—but they really are, in part because they challenge our understanding of the fundamental reversibility of physical processes. In the first part of the talk, I will review some of the classical ways black holes behave as…