Talks

The implementation of optical astronomical interferometry presents several technical challenges, such as establishing a shared reference frame and conducting nonlocal measurements. This presentation aims to establish a connection between the theoretical framework developed in quantum information science and the schemes employed in astronomical interferometry. Our discussion will focus on the trade-offs between required resource and operational performance. We will categorize these methods into three types: nonlocal schemes, local schemes with a reference frame, and local schemes operating without a reference frame. By using this interdisciplinary connection, we also explore a generalized intensity interferometer. This approach achieves performance levels comparable to traditional intensity interferometers but introduces interesting fundamental distinctions.

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When the spacetime metric is regarded as a quantum field, the classical trajectories of freely falling objects are subject to random fluctuations, or “noise”. This fundamental noise might even be observable at gravitational wave detectors: if detected, it would provide experimental evidence for the quantization of gravity. The effect of the quantum-gravitational noise is to turn the classical geodesic deviation equation into a stochastic, Langevin-like equation. Moreover, when these results are extended to congruences of geodesics, the quantum fluctuations of spacetime give rise to an additional term in the Raychaudhuri equation with the same sign as the other terms.

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Gravitational waves detected by advanced ground-based interferometers have given us an unprecedented look at the universe. Yet, a central mystery remains: How are sources of gravitational waves — in particular, black-hole and neutron-star mergers — formed in nature? The measured masses, spins, and redshifts of these compact objects offer some clues to solving this mystery. In this talk, I will describe state-of-the art techniques for characterizing and simulating pairs of black holes and neutron stars. To conclude, I will argue that a multi-pronged approach combining both model-agnostic data analysis and detailed simulations will help unlock the histories of these exotic objects.

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This talk explains the theory of "factorisation" or "vertex algebra" analogues of the theory of quantum groups, (2312.07274).

We will first recap the theory of quantum groups and their connections to wider mathematics, due to Drinfeld, Etingof, Kazhdan, Jimbo, Reshetikhin, Turaev, and many others. We will then explain how to give a natural definition of "factorisation" version of these objects, give the basic structure theory about their categories of representations, and derive an explicit model for them. This relates to previous work of Etingof-Kazhdan and Frenkel-Reshetikhin.

We will sketch some physics heuristics for the above theory; briefly, our structures should appear on the category of line operators in 4d theories due to Costello, Witten and Yamazaki, e.g. on the representations Rep U_q(g^) of affine quantum groups.

We will then give some examples. The last part discusses the conjectures that naturally suggest themselves, for instance by analogy to the connections referred to above.

Prerequisites on chiral and vertex algebras will be given at a talk earlier in the week. (1-2pm Tuesday, Bob Room)

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