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While complex numbers are essential in mathematics, they are not needed to describe physical experiments, expressed in terms of probabilities, hence real numbers. Physics however aims to explain, rather than describe, experiments through theories. While most theories of physics are based on real numbers, quantum theory was the first to be formulated in terms of operators acting on complex Hilbert spaces. This has puzzled countless physicists, including the fathers of the theory, for whom a real version of quantum theory, in terms of real operators, seemed much more natural. Are complex numbers really needed in the quantum formalism? Here, we show this to be case by proving that real and complex quantum theory, understood in terms of operators in Hilbert spaces and tensor products to represent independent systems, make different predictions in network scenarios comprising independent states and measurements.  This allows us to devise a Bell-like experiment whose successful realization would disprove real quantum theory, in the same way as standard Bell experiments disproved local physics.

Type IIB string theory has a duality symmetry given by the pin+ cover of GL(2, Z). In joint work with Markus Dierigl, Jonathan J. Heckman, and Miguel Montero, we show that this symmetry is anomalous, and describe how to cancel the anomaly, up to a few calculations we were unable to determine, by adding a Chern-Simons term. I will talk about the setup of the problem in terms of computing the partition function of an invertible topological field theory; a sketch of how the computation goes in terms of bordism and the Adams spectral sequence; and how we cancel the anomaly.

Quantum groups are the proper tool to describe quantum gravity in three dimensions. Several arguments suggest that 2-groups should be used to formulate four dimensional quantum gravity. I will review these motivations and will discuss in particular how 2-groups can be used to extend the definition of a phase space associated to a triangulation or to modify the notion of group field theory to generate topological models. I will also highlight how the kappa Poincaré deformation arises in the 2-group context.

Mergers of compact objects are among the most violent events in the Universe. At close separations, compact binaries emit gravitational waves, releasing enormous amounts of energy until they merge. When matter is present in the system, the event might be accompanied by electromagnetic emission, which can span the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Multi-messenger observations by gravitational-wave detectors and electromagnetic telescopes have opened a new avenue to understand the nature of spacetime and its interaction with matter. In this talk, I will discuss recent efforts to connect first-principle calculations with the electromagnetic radiation emitted in compact binary mergers through general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In particular, I will focus on the relativistic outflows produced in binary neutron star systems and on electromagnetic signatures of supermassive binary black-hole mergers.

I will discuss ongoing work on the robustness of symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases in open systems. By studying the evolution of non-local string order parameters, we find that one-dimensional SPT order is destabilized by couplings to the environment satisfying a weak symmetry condition that directly generalizes from closed systems. We introduce a stronger symmetry condition on channels that ensures SPT order is preserved. SPT phases of mixed states and their transformation under noisy channels is also discussed.

This talk concerns the "Markov gap," a tripartite-entanglement measure with a simple geometric dual in holographic quantum gravity. I will prove a new inequality constraining the Markov gap of classical states in quantum gravity, and interpret this inequality as a lesson about multipartite entanglement in holography. I will also speculate about signatures of the inequality in non-holographic field theories, and conjecture a new universal entanglement feature of two-dimensional CFTs.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/98327637522?pwd=TUJOQ0d1aU5Gc0RLTlJLd3B3Ty9LUT09

In an ordinary quantum field theory, the "split property" implies that the state of the system can be specified independently on a bounded subregion of a Cauchy slice and its complement. This property does not hold for theories of gravity, where observables near the boundary of the Cauchy slice uniquely fix the state on the entire slice. The original formulation of the information paradox explicitly assumed the split property and we follow this assumption to isolate the precise error in Hawking's argument. A similar assumption also underpins the monogamy paradox of Mathur and AMPS. Finally the same assumption is used to support the common idea that the entanglement entropy of the region outside a black hole should follow a Page curve. It is for this reason that computations of the Page curve have been performed only in nonstandard theories of gravity, which include a non-gravitational bath and massive gravitons. The fine-grained entropy at future null infinity does not obey a Page curve for an evaporating black hole in standard theories of gravity but we discuss possibilities for coarse graining that might lead to a Page curve in such cases.

We discuss aspects of the possible transition between small black holes and highly excited fundamental strings. We focus on the connection between black holes and the self gravitating string solution of Horowitz and Polchinski. This solution is interesting because it has non-zero entropy at the classical level and it is natural to suspect that it might be continuously connected to the black hole. Surprisingly, we find a different behavior for heterotic and type II cases. For the type II case we find an obstruction to the idea that the two are connected as classical solutions of string theory, while no such obstruction exists for the heterotic case. We further provide a linear sigma model analysis that suggests a continuous connection for the heterotic case. We also describe a solution generating transformation that produces a charged version of the self gravitating string. This provides a fuzzball-like construction of near extremal configurations carrying fundamental string momentum and winding charges. We provide formulas which are exact in α′ relating the thermodynamic properties of the charged and the uncharged solutions.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96056818482?pwd=cXdxSGRBTEI5N2d6Z21XbTF1Z1lLQT09

Consider a polynomial differential operator in one variable, depending on a small parameter (Planck constant). Under appropriate conditions, the low-energy spectrum admits an asymptotic expansion in hbar.
I will present a way to calculate such a series via a purely "commutative problem", a mixture of variations of Hodge structures and of the Stirling formula. This result came from discussions with A.Soibelman. It seems that we obtain an explanation of an old observation by J.Zinn-Justin of the 

 universal appearance of Bernoulli numbers.

Pulsar magnetospheres admit non-stationary vacuum gaps that are characterized by non-vanishing E•B. These gaps play an important role in plasma production and electromagnetic wave emission and, as I will discuss, are very efficient axion factories. The density of axions produced in a vacuum gap can be several orders of magnitude greater than the ambient dark matter density.  In the strong pulsar magnetic field, a fraction of these axions may convert to photons, giving rise to broadband radio signals. We show that dedicated observations of nearby pulsars with radio telescopes (FAST) and interferometers (SKA) can probe axion-photon couplings that are a few orders of magnitude lower than current astrophysical bounds.