Talks

We study a contracting universe composed of cold dark matter and radiation, and with a positive cosmological constant. Assuming that loop quantum cosmology captures the correct high-curvature dynamics of the space-time, we calculate the spectrum of scalar and tensor perturbations after the bounce, assuming initial quantum vacuum fluctuations. We find that the modes that exit the (sound) Hubble radius during matter-domination when the effective equation of state is slightly negative due to the cosmological constant will be nearly scale-invariant with a slight red tilt, in agreement with observations. The tensor perturbations are also nearly scale-invariant, and the predicted tensor-to-scalar ratio is small.  Finally, as this scenario predicts a positive running of the scalar index, it can be differentiated from inflationary models.

Symmetry protected topological (SPT) states are bulk gapped states with gapless edge excitations. The SPT phases in free fermion systems, like topological insulators, can be classified by K-theory. However, it is not yet known what SPT phases exist in general interacting systems. In this talk, I will first present a systematic way to construct SPT phases in interacting bosonic systems, which allows us to identify many new SPT phases. Just as group theory allows us to construct 230 crystal structures in three dimensions, we find that group cohomology theory allows us to construct many interacting bosonic SPT phases. In my talk, I shall show how topological terms in the path integral description of the system can be constructed from nontrivial group cohomology classes, giving rise to exactly soluble Hamiltonians with explicit ground state wavefunctions. Next, I will discuss the generalization of the classifying scheme to interacting fermionic systems and a new mathematical framework – group supercohomology theory, which predicts a fermionic SPT phase that can neither be realized in free fermionic nor interacting bosonic systems.

Finally, I will briefly mention the deep relationship between SPT phases and chiral anomalies in high energy physics.

We consider the one dimensional, periodic spin chain with $N$ sites, similar to the one studied by Haldane \cite{hal}, however in the opposite limit of very large anisotropy and small nearest neighbour, anti-ferromagnetic exchange coupling between the spins, which are of large magnitude $s$.  For a  chain with an even number of sites we show that actually the ground state is non degenerate and given by a superposition of the two Néel states, due to quantum spin tunnelling.  With an odd number of sites, the Néel state must necessarily contain a soliton. The position of the soliton is arbitrary thus the  ground state is $N$-fold degenerate.  This set of  states reorganizes into a band. We show that this occurs at order $2s$ in perturbation theory.  The ground state is non-degenerate for integer spin, but degenerate for half-odd integer spin as is required by Kramer's theorem \cite{kram}. arXiv:1404.6706 , Phys.Lett. A378 (2014) 3066-3069; arXiv:1304.3734 Phys.Rev. B88 (2013) 22, 220403 

In this talk, I will prove the Landau-Ginzburg mirror symmetry conjecture for general quasi-homogenous singularities, i.e., the FJRW theory (LG A-model) of such polynomials is equivalent to the Saito-Givental theory (LG B-model) of the mirror polynomial. This is joint work with Weiqiang He, Rachel Webb and Yefeng Shen. 

If dark matter is asymmetric, fermionic, and self-interacting, it may form black holes in pulsars at the galactic center. In this case, a measurable maximum attainable pulsar age would track the density of the dark matter halo, with the oldest pulsars being allowed in the least dense parts of the halo. This could explain a recent observation, that there are not as many pulsars in the galactic center as expected.

Models such as Natural Inflation that use Pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons (PNGB's) as the inflaton are attractive for many reasons. However, they typically require trans-Planckian field excursions $\Delta \Phi>M_{\rm Pl}$, due to the need for an axion decay constant $f>M_{\rm Pl}$ to have both a sufficient number of e-folds {\em and} values of $n_s,\ r$ consistent with data.  Such excursions would in general require the addition of all other higher dimension operators consistent with symmetries, thus disrupting the required flatness of the potential and rendering the theory non-predictive. We show that in the case of Natural Inflation, the existence of spinodal instabilities (modes with tachyonic masses) can modify the inflaton equations of motion to the point that versions of the model with $f<M_{\rm Pl}$ can still inflate for the required number of e-folds. The instabilities naturally give rise to two separate phases of inflation with different values of the Hubble parameter $H$ one driven by the zero mode, the other by the unstable fluctuation modes. The values of $n_s$ and $r$ typically depend on the initial conditions for the zero mode, and, at least for those examined here, the values of $r$ tend to be unobservably small.