Scientific Series

Thanks to the spectacular observational advances since the 1990s, a `standard model' of the early universe has now emerged. However, since it is based on quantum field theory in curved space-times, it is not applicable in the Planck era. Using techniques from loop quantum gravity, the theory can be extended over the 12 orders of magnitude in density and curvature from the onset of inflation all the way back to the Planck regime, providing us with a possible completion of the standard model.

Contrary to a wide-spread belief, the resulting pre-inflationary dynamics can have observational consequences for the longest wave length modes of cosmological perturbations. Thus, there is now an an interesting interplay between fundamental theory and observations. The talk will provide a broad overview of these results addressed to non-experts.

Web-links:

Viewpoint: A glance at the earliest universe; APS Physics Spotlighting Exceptional Research: http://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/142

U tube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFcQuEw0oY8&feature=c4-overview&list=UUtOgK

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In holographic duality a gravitational spacetime emerges as an equivalent description of a lower-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) living on the asymptotic boundary. Traditionally, the dimension not present in the CFT is interpreted in terms of its Renormalisation Group flow. In this talk I exploit the relation between boundary entanglement entropies and bulk minimal surfaces to define a quantitative framework for the holographic Renormalisation Group, in which quantum information theory plays a fundamental role. I will provide operational, quantitative, information-theoretic characterizations of several geometric concepts in asymptotically AdS3 spacetimes, including the radial direction and lengths of bulk curves.

Perhaps the biggest conceptual benefit of the information-theoretic framework for holographic Renormalisation Group is a quantitative correspondence between holography and the Multi-Scale Entanglement Renormalisation Ansatz (MERA). I also discuss prospects for understanding the near-horizon structure of black holes.

The last decade has seen a wave of characterizations of quantum theory using the formalism of generalized probability theory.

In this talk, I will introduce a novel operational approach to characterizing and reconstructing quantum theory which puts an observer’s information acquisition -- rather than the probability structure – centre stage. In particular, we consider an observer interrogating a system with binary questions and explain how an elementary set of rules governing the observer’s acquisition of information about the system leads to qubit quantum theory. The derivation is constructive, elucidating, among other things, the origin of entanglement, monogamy and more generally the correlation structure. This approach also yields a new characterization of pure states in terms of ‘conserved informational charges’ which, in turn, define the unitary group.

In this talk I will propose a general correspondence which associates a non-perturbative quantum mechanical operator to a toric Calabi-Yau manifold, and I will propose a conjectural expression for its spectral determinant. As a consequence of these results, I will derive an exact quantization condition for the operator spectrum. I will give a concrete illustration of this conjecture by focusing on the example of local P2. This approach also provides a non-perturbative Fermi gas picture of topological strings on toric background and suggests the existence of an underlying theory of M2 branes behind this formulation.

With the increase of the center-of-mass energy from 8 TeV
to 13 TeV for LHC Run 2, the probability for boosted topologies will
become even higher than in Run 1. This also comes with a large
increase in pileup from the increased luminosity. This talk
investigates the state of the art of boosted algorithms and grooming
techniques, addresses shortcomings and possible improvements, and
discusses hot-topic items that will be interesting early on in Run 2.

A renormalization group transformation implements a scale transformation while resetting the UV cut-off, so that the theories before and after the RG transformation contain the same degrees of freedom, but with a modified action. In Wilson's original proposal, the cut-off is reset by integrating out the degrees of freedom between the old and new cut-off. In recent years we have learned that, alternatively, one can decouple these degrees of freedom by means of local unitary transformations (disentanglers). The result is a reversible renormalization group flow, and an efficient description of many-body ground states. In this talk, I will show you pretty drawings and will use fancy names, such as "multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz" (MERA). MERA is currently studied as a possible lattice realization of the AdS/CFT correspondence. I will keep it simple.

After 50 years of dreaming about it, space-based microlensing observations are now underway.  A 2014 100-hr Spitzer Pilot Program generated "microlens parallaxes" for dozens of lenses, opening the prospect of measuring the Galactic distribution of planets.  This program will be expanded 8-fold in 2015.  Analogous observations by Kepler will measure the mass function of free-floating planets.

WFIRST microlensing observations will, as advertised, "complete the planetary census" but they will do an immense amount of astrophysics as well.  I discuss how microlensing's take off builds on rapid, ongoing, ground-based developments.

Does a generic quantum system necessarily thermalize? Recent developments in disordered many-body quantum systems have provided crucial insights into this long-standing question. It has been found that sufficiently disordered systems may fail to thermalize leading to a 'many-body localized' phase. In this phase, the fundamental assumption underlying equilibrium statistical mechanics, namely, the equal likelihood for all states at the same energy, breaks down. A fundamental question is: what happens as the disorder becomes weaker so that one approaches the localization-delocalization transition? For example, does the system thermalize *at* the transition? 

In this talk, I will show that very general considerations on the scaling of entanglement entropy close to the transition imply that at a continuous many-body localization transition, the system is necessarily ergodic.

Finally, I will present recent results on "eigenstate thermalization", a long standing hypothesis which posits that a single eigenstate hides within itself a thermal ensemble. In particular, I will discuss which class of operators do or do not satisfy eigenstate thermalization.

Using holography, I will describe an approach for understanding the physics of a big bang singularity by translating the problem into the language of the dual quantum field theory. Certain two-point correlators in the dual field theory are sensitive to near-singularity physics in a dramatic way, and this provides an avenue for investigating how strong quantum gravity effects in string theory might modify the classical description of the big bang.

I will talk about the physics of models in which dark matter consists of composite bound states carrying a large conserved dark “nucleon” number. The properties of sufficiently large dark nuclei may obey simple scaling laws, and this scaling can determine the number distribution of nuclei resulting from Big Bang Dark Nucleosynthesis. For plausible models of asymmetric dark matter, dark nuclei of large nucleon number, e.g. >~ 10^8, may be synthesised, with the number distribution taking one of two characteristic forms, which interestingly are broadly independent of initial conditions. A possible consequence of these scenarios is alterations to direct detection signals, which may be coherently enhanced (relative to collider signals), and could be modified by new momentum-dependent form factors. Inelastic interactions between dark matter states might also be important in astrophysical settings.

Visible matter consists mostly of hydrogen and helium, only a small fraction
of which is in stars. Until recently, the bulk of the gas in the local
universe was in fact not seen. In the largest structures, massive galaxy
clusters, the gas is seen via its x-ray emission, but in the much more
numerous groups and isolated galaxies, it has not been possible to detect
it. I will describe how, in the last year or so, the situation has changed,
with the detection of a cross-correlation between the thermal SZ effect and
lensing maps, and through the stacking of SZ images at the locations of
galaxies. These and similar techniques will tell us about the physics by
which stars and massive black holes heat and move gas in and around the
halos of galaxies and cluster, and will allow for tighter constraints on the
value of the primordial power spectrum (sigma_8).

The interplay of quantum mechanics and inter-particle interactions leads to enormously rich tapestry of quantum phases of matter. In this talk I will illustrate the unique synthesis offered by quantum entanglement on the landscape of quantum phases. I will especially discuss phases which do not show any kind of ordering even at the absolute zero temperature, two prime examples being spin liquids and quantum Hall phases. These phases are fascinating because they can exhibit extraordinary properties such as emergent fermions in a system composed only of bosons, or systems where the elementary excitations are neither fermions, nor bosons (“anyons”). I will discuss how quantum entanglement not only plays a crucial role in characterizing and diagnosing such quantum disordered phases, but in fact it also sheds light on their stability.