Scientific Series

Pairwise difference learning (PDL) has recently been introduced as a new meta-learning technique for regression by Wetzel et al. Instead of learning a mapping from instances to outcomes in the standard way, the key idea is to learn a function that takes two instances as input and predicts the difference between the respective outcomes. Given a function of this kind, predictions for a query instance are derived from every training example and then averaged. This presentation focus on the classification version of PDL, proposing a meta-learning technique for inducing a classifier by solving a suitably defined (binary) classification problem on a paired version of the original training data. This presentation will also discuss an enhancement to PDL through anchor weighting, which adjusts the influence of anchor points based on the reliability and precision of their predictions, thus improving the robustness and accuracy of the method.  We analyze the performance of the PDL classifier in a large-scale empirical study, finding that it outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of prediction performance. Finally, we provide an easy-to-use and publicly available implementation of PDL in a Python package.

In the framework of Non-Equilibrium Field Theory, I will construct the effective influence functional — generator of non-equilibrium correlation functions — for a mechanical system with degrees of freedom living on a group (e.g. rigid body) interacting with a thermal bath at high temperature. I will derive the constraints on the influence functional following from the group symmetry structure and the DKMS symmetry — generalization of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. At the linear response level, group symmetry turns out to impose more constraints compared to DKMS. I will illustrate the general formalism with the diffusion in a Fermi gas and exhibit the large-N suppression of the non-linear response. Finally, I will introduce the Universal Bath — the generalization of the Caldeira-Leggett model. It is a dual field theory defined in one extra dimension that reproduces the classical non-equilibrium dynamics of the mechanical system. I will show that in the limit of Ohmic dissipation, when the temperature becomes the only relevant scale at play, the Universal Bath also reproduces the quantum corrections.

In order to understand many Quantum information aspects of the Ads/CFT correspondence, tensor network toy models of holography have been a useful and concrete tool. However, these models traditionally lack many features of their continuum counterparts, limiting their applicability in arguments about gravity. In this talk, I present a natural extension of the tensor network holography paradigm which rectifies some of these issues. Its direct inspiration originates in Loop Quantum Gravity, which allows not only lifting existing limitations of tensor networks, but also firmly grounds the models in the context of nonperturbative canonical quantum gravity.

Celestial Holography encompasses a decade-long endeavor to understand a flat space realization of the holographic principle starting from symmetries in the infrared.  But where does it fit within other attempts at constructing a flat hologram? This colloquium delves into some fun tensions in the literature and hopes for resolving them.

Abstract: Randomness is a powerful resource for information-processing applications. For example, classical randomness is essential for modern information security and underpins many cryptographic schemes. Similarly, quantum randomness can protect quantum information against noise or eavesdroppers who wish to access or manipulate that information. These observations raise a set of related questions: How quickly and efficiently can we generate quantum randomness? How much quantum randomness is necessary for a given task? What can we use quantum randomness for? In this talk, I address these questions using all-to-all Brownian circuits, a family of random quantum circuits for which exact results can often be obtained via mean-field theory. I will first demonstrate that all-to-all Brownian circuits form k-designs in a time that scales linearly with k. I will then discuss how these circuits can be applied to study Heisenberg-limited metrology and quantum advantage. In particular, I will discuss a time-reversal protocol that can achieve Heisenberg-limited precision in cavity QED and trapped ion setups; I will also discuss the application of these circuits to studying classical spoofing algorithms for the linear cross-entropy benchmark, a popular measure of quantum advantage.

The long-range force between neutrinos is poorly constrained. In the late-time universe, a long-range force that is a few orders of magnitude stronger than gravity can induce Jeans perturbation instability in the non-relativistic cosmic neutrino background, drastically changing its large-scale behavior. In this talk, I will describe how the cosmic neutrino background evolves and forms nonlinear bound states in the presence of a long-range force. I will then discuss the impact of these neutrino bound states on the matter structures in the universe, and the constraints due to the absence of these signals.

Deviations from a parity-symmetric Universe would strongly signal the presence of new physics beyond the Standard Model. The lowest-order scalar observable sensitive to parity in a homogeneous and isotropic Universe is the connected four-point function of a given cosmological field. Geometrically, this function is described by a suitable average of this field over many tetrahedral configurations. As the CMB represents a spherical projection of three-dimensional curvature fluctuations, its four-point function serves as a unique, but potentially limited, probe of this fundamental symmetry. In this talk, I will discuss progress in rigorously understanding the CMB’s sensitivity to parity-violating physics from both early- and late-time sources.

We will discuss some aspects of my recent preprint, joint with Victor Ginzburg, on Kostant-Whittaker reduction, a (deformation) quantization of restriction to a Kostant slice. We will explain how this functor can be used to prove conjectures of Ben-Zvi and Gunningham on parabolic induction, as well as a convolution exactness conjecture of Braverman and Kazhdan in the D-module setting. While this talk will occasionally reference facts from a talk I gave at Perimeter on other aspects of this preprint, the overlap and references will be minimal.