Conference

"In 2034 LISA is due to be launched, which will provide the opportunity to extract physics from stellar objects and systems that would not otherwise be possible, among which are EMRIs. Unlike previous sources detected at LIGO, these sources can be simulated using an accurate computation of the gravitational self-force, resulting from the gravitational effects of the compact object orbiting around the massive BH. Whereas the field has seen outstanding progress in the frequency domain, metric reconstruction and self-force calculations are still an open challenge in the time domain. Such computations would not only further corroborate frequency domain calculations/models but also allow for full self-consistent evolution of the orbit under the effect of the self-force . Given we have a priori information about the local structure of the discontinuity at the particle, we will show how we can construct discontinuous spatial and temporal discretizations by operating on discontinuous Lagrange and Hermite interpolation formulae and hence recover higher order accuracy. We will show how this technique in conjunction with well-suited conformal (hyperboloidal slicing) and numerical (discontinuous time symmetric ) methods can provide a relatively simple method of lines numerical recipe approach to the problem. We will show, in particular, how this method can be applied to solve the Regge-Wheeler and Zerilli equations with a moving particle source in the time domain. /************ Note to organizers: if both my talk and my supervisor, Charalampos Markakis, are selected could this please be after his ? Thank you for your consideration *************/"

Numerical simulations of extereme mass ratio inspirals face several computational challenges. We present a new approach to evolving partial differential equations occurring in black hole perturbation theory and calculations of the self-force acting on point particles orbiting supermassive black holes. Such equations are distributionally sourced, and standard numerical methods, such as finite-difference or spectral methods, face difficulties associated with approximating discontinuous functions. However, in the self-force problem we typically have access to full a-priori information about the local structure of the discontinuity at the particle. Using this information, we show that high-order accuracy can be recovered by adding to the Lagrange interpolation formula a linear combination of certain jump amplitudes. We construct discontinuous spatial and temporal discretizations by operating on the corrected Lagrange formula. In a method-of-lines framework, this provides a simple and efficient method of solving time-dependent partial differential equations, without loss of accuracy near moving singularities or discontinuities. This method is well-suited for the problem of time-domain reconstruction of the metric perturbation via the Teukolsky or Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli formalisms. Parallel implementations on modern CPU and GPU architectures are discussed.

Recently, an intriguing connection between the exceptional Jordan algebra h_3(O) and the standard model of particle physics was noticed by Dubois-Violette and Todorov (with further interpretation by Baez). How do the standard model fermions fit into this story? I will explain how they may be neatly incorporated by complexifying h_3(O) or, relatedly, by passing from RxO to CxO in the so-called "magic square" of normed division algebras. This, in turn, suggests that the standard model, with gauge group SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1), is embedded in a left/right-symmetric theory, with gauge group SU(3)xSU(2)xSU(2)xU(1). This theory is not only experimentally viable, but offers some explanatory advantages over the standard model (including an elegant solution to the standard model's "strong CP problem"). Ramond's formulation of the magic square, based on triality, provides further insights, and possible hints about where to go next.

This talk will be about two applications of Jordan algebras. The first, to quantum mechanics, follows on from the talk of John Baez. I will explain how time dependence makes use of the associator, and how this is related to the commutator in the standard density matrix formulation. The associator of a Jordan algebra also determines the curvature of a Riemannian metric on its positive cone, invariant under the symmetry group of the norm (mentioned in the talk of John Baez); the cone is foliated by hypersurfaces of constant norm. This geometry is relevant to a class of N=2 5D supergravity theories (from the early 1980s) which arise (in some cases, at least) from Calabi-Yau compactification of 11D supergravity. The 5D interactions are determined by the structure constants of a euclidean Jordan algebra with cubic norm. The exceptional JA of 3x3 octonionic matrices yields an ``exceptional’’ 5D supergravity which yields, on reduction to 4D, an ``exceptional’’ N=2 supergravity with many similarities to N=8 supergravity, such as a non-compact global E7 symmetry. However, it has a compact `composite’ E6 gauge invariance (in contrast to the SU(8) of N=8 supergravity). An old speculation is that non-perturbative effects break the N=2 supersymmetry and cause the E6 gauge potentials to become the dynamical fields of an E6 GUT. Potentially (albeit improbably) this provides a connection between M-theory, the exceptional Jordan algebra, and the Standard Model.

I will take a look at the SO(10) grand unified theories from the perspective of the typical phenomenology constraints imposed on their structure. The current status of the minimal potentially realistic models will be briefly commented upon.

The fermionic fields of one generation of the Standard Model, including the Lorentz spinor degrees of freedom, can be identified with components of a single real 64-dimensional semi-spinor representation S of the group Spin(11,3). I will describe an octonionic model for Spin(11,3) in which the semi-spinor representation gets identified with S=OxO', where O,O' are the usual and split octonions respectively. It is then well-known that choosing a unit imaginary octonion u in Im(O) equips O with a complex structure J. Similarly, choosing a unit imaginary split octonion u' in Im(O') equips O' with a complex structure J', except that there are now two inequivalent complex structures, one parametrised by a choice of a timelike and the other of a spacelike unit u'. In either case, the identification S=OxO' implies that there are two natural commuting complex structures J, J' on S. Our main new observation is that there is a choice of J,J' so that the subgroup of Spin(11,3) that commutes with both is the direct product SU(3)xU(1)xSU(2)_LxSU(2)_R x Spin(1,3) of the group of the left/right symmetric extension of the SM and Lorentz group. The splitting of S into eigenspaces of J corresponds to splitting into particles and anti-particles. The splitting of S into eigenspaces of J' corresponds to splitting of Lorentz Dirac spinors into two different chiralities.

Dubois-Violette and Todorov have shown that the Standard Model gauge group can be constructed using the exceptional Jordan algebra, consisting of 3×3 self-adjoint matrices of octonions. After an introduction to the physics of Jordan algebras, we ponder the meaning of their construction. For example, it implies that the Standard Model gauge group consists of the symmetries of an octonionic qutrit that restrict to symmetries of an octonionic qubit and preserve all the structure arising from a choice of unit imaginary octonion. It also sheds light on why the Standard Model gauge group acts on 10d Euclidean space, or Minkowski spacetime, while preserving a 4+6 splitting.

40 years trying to go beyond the Standard Model hasn't yet led to any clear success. As an alternative, we could try to understand why the Standard Model is the way it is. In this talk we review some lessons from grand unified theories and also from recent work using the octonions. The gauge group of the Standard Model and its representation on one generation of fermions arises naturally from a process that involves splitting 10d Euclidean space into 4+6 dimensions, but also from a process that involves splitting 10d Minkowski spacetime into 4d Minkowski space and 6 spacelike dimensions. We explain both these approaches, and how to reconcile them.

We have already met the octonionic Fierz identity satisfied by spinors in 10-dimensional spacetime. This identity makes super-Yang-Mills "super" and allows the Green-Schwarz string to be kappa symmetric. But it is also the defining equation of a "higher" algebraic structure: an L-infinity algebra extending the supersymmetry algebra. We introduce this L-infinity algebra in octonionic language, and describe its cousins in various dimensions. We then survey various consequences of its existence, such as the brane bouquet of Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber.