Talks

In this talk, I will begin with a brief introduction to celestial holography and setting up the celestial amplitudes, before diving into some recent results on examining the BCFW recursion relations for celestial amplitudes. We start by recasting the celestial incarnation of the BCFW shift as a generalization of the action of familiar asymptotic symmetries on hard particles, before focusing on two limits: large-z and infinitesimal-z. We then discuss how the celestial CFT data encodes the large-z behavior determining which shifts are allowed, while the infinitesimal limit is tied to the celestial bootstrap program via the BG equations that constrain the MHV sector.

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99231185135?pwd=OWk4S2ZITmFGSmVsQUwwbHI5NW1rUT09

In this talk I will present the recent results of my work with Edoardo d'Angelo, Nicolo Drago and Nicola Pinamonti. Using the methods of perturbative algebraic quantum field theory, we have formulated new flow equations on Lorentzian spacetimes that work for arbitrary states (not only the vacuum) and in Minkowski vaccum reduce to Wetterich equations. This has potential applications to the asymptotic safety approach to quantum gravity.

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/98616857260?pwd=ajZoS1lZc0cySlVmTVdVUnA5Ull6Zz09

The Lense-Thirring spacetime describes a 4-dimensional slowly rotating approximate solution of vacuum Einstein equations valid to a linear order in rotation parameter. It is fully characterized by a single metric function of the corresponding static (Schwarzschild) solution. We shall discuss a generalization of the Lense-Thirring spacetimes to the case that is not necessarily fully characterized by a single (static) metric function. This generalization lets us study slowly rotating spacetimes in various higher curvature gravities as well as in the presence of non-trivial matter such as non-linear electrodynamics.  In particular, we construct slowly multiply-spinning solutions in Lovelock gravity and notably show that in four dimensions Einstein gravity is the only non-trivial theory amongst all up to quartic curvature gravities that
admits a Lense-Thirring solution characterized by a single metric function. We will also discuss a `magic square' version of our ansatz and show that it can be cast in the Painlevé-Gullstrand form (and thence is manifestly regular on the horizon) and admits a tower of exact rank-2 and higher rank Killing tensors that rapidly grows with the number of dimensions.

Zoom Link: TBD

We discuss how 3+1-dimensional physics including gravity can arise in the IKKT or IIB matrix model.  The model is related to string theory, but it also provides a direct and accessible definition of  3+1-dimensional physics on suitable backgrounds. This leads to a higher-spin extension of gravity on covariant quantum space-time with manifest volume-preserving diffeos, which is UV finite at one loop. 

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94588999721?pwd=VTdxQSt3MGhSMkt3UThCVjNRcXJBQT09

The search for pragmatic observables of quantum gravity remains at the forefront of fundamental physics research. A large set of ideas collectively known as the gauge-gravity duality have proven fruitful in tackling this problem. While such a duality is believed to universally govern gravitational theories, its nature in theories of gravity that describe our universe to a good degree of approximation is still little understood.

In this talk I will discuss efforts in formulating a holographic correspondence for gravity in four-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes. The proposed dual theory lives on a two-dimensional celestial sphere at infinity and is constrained by a wide range of symmetries. I present recent evidence for this proposal by showing that it arises naturally in a flat space limit of AdS/CFT. I will illustrate this construction with two related examples: the propagation of a particle in a shockwave background and the high-energy scattering of 2 particles.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/97426266597?pwd=UmhncFR6NExFVzI2SlJwdE1LeUlIQT09

We examine the validity of the classical approximation of the waterfall phase transition in hybrid inflation from an effective field theory (EFT) point of view. The EFT is constructed by integrating out the waterfall field fluctuations, up to one-loop order in the perturbative expansion. Assuming slow-roll conditions are obeyed, right after the onset of the waterfall phase, we find the backreaction of the waterfall field fluctuations to the evolution of the system can be dominant. In this case the classical approximation is completely spoiled. We derive the necessary constraint that ensures the validity of the EFT.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96209675696?pwd=ZkZ2NGpRVW9vVkdaY1QrWG5GRFltdz09