University of Crete HEP Seminars Spring 2013
| Speaker: |
Rene Meyer |
| Department: |
IPMU, Tokyo |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Tuesday 5 February 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
After a general introduction into modular invariance in the fractional quantum Hall effect I will present recent progress on a holographic model which implements SL(2,Z) symmetry and has
ground states similar to fractional quantum Hall plateaux states. The main improvement over previous work, which I am going to review, is that the quantum Hall plateaux states
do have a gap for the charged excitations. |
| Speaker: |
Paraskevas Sphicas |
| Department: |
CERN and Athens U. |
| Time: |
Thursday 7 February 2013 at 17:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
In the past 20 years, the Standard Model of elementary particles and their interactions has provided a remarkably accurate description of all experiments with and without high-energy accelerators, establishing that we understand the “physics of the very small” up to energy scales of 100 GeV. The Large Hadron Collider of CERN was conceived to probe the physics of the next frontier, that of the TeV energy scale, providing a definitive statement on whether the infamous Higgs boson exists, but also looking for “new physics”. In July 2012, the two general-purpose experiments announced the observation of a new massive boson, consistent with the very Higgs boson of the Standard Model, possibly signaling the end of a forty-year hunt. The talk will present a broad-brush picture of the why, the what and the how this search has been carried out, along with the latest results since the first announcement. We will conclude with the implications of the new findings on possible physics “beyond the SM”, along with a short summary of the status of some key searches for new physics. |
| Speaker: |
Stefan Rotter |
| Department: |
University of Crete |
| Time: |
Friday 21 February 2013 at 17:00 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
I will speak about recent advances in shaping and controlling
waves in cavities and random media [1]. In particular, I will
show how the experimentally accessible information stored in a
system's scattering matrix can be used to create highly
collimated wave beams which traverse this system without
being diffracted [2,3]. The key tool to realize such particle-like
scattering states is the so-called time-delay operator which can
be implemented with electromagnetic as well as with acoustic
waves. In the second part of my talk I will explain how a
suitably designed disorder can be used to control the coherent
transmission through waveguides [4] as well as the emission
properties of a so-called random laser [5].
[1] Mosk, Lagendijk, Lerosey, Fink, Nature Phot. 6, 283, (2012).
[2] Rotter, Ambichl, Libisch, PRL 106, 120602 (2011) .
[3] Appell, Phys. Rev. Focus 27, 13 (2011).
[4] Dietz et al., PRB 86, 201106(R) (2012)
[5] Hisch et al. (in preparation) |
| Speaker: |
Jean Iliopoulos |
| Department: |
École Normale Supérieure |
| Time: |
Thursday 28 February 2013 at 17:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
We review the phenomenon of spontaneous symmetry breaking
in Classical and Quantum Physics. It is associated with the
appearance of massless excitations in the spectrum of states,
known as "Goldstone modes". In Relativistic Quantum Physics in
the presence of long- range gauge interactions, the
phenomenon takes an unexpected new form, the Englert-BroutHiggs mechanism. We believe that it describes the origin
of mass generation in the early Universe. The recent discovery
of a new particle at the CERN Large Hadron Collider opens the
way for an experimental study of this phenomenon. |
| Speaker: |
Thomas Sotiriou |
| Department: |
SISSA |
| Time: |
Tuesday 12 March 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Black holes are natural laboratories for the gravitational interaction and for fundamental physics in general.
I will try to provide support for this claim by discussing specific examples of black holes endowed with scalar fields and black holes in Lorentz-violating theories. |
| Speaker: |
Carlos Hoyos |
| Department: |
Tel Aviv University |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Thursday 21 March 2013 at 15:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
The Kondo effect is the screening of a magnetic impurity coupled anti-ferromagnetically to a bath of conduction electrons at sufficiently low temperatures. In the language of (1+1)-dimensional conformal field theory, the Kondo effect is a renormalization group flow between two fixed points triggered by a marginally relevant
(0+1)-dimensional operator. Based on the conformal field theory description, we construct a holographic model of the Kondo effect as a holographic superconductor in AdS2, coupled as a defect to a Chern-Simons gauge field in AdS3. |
| Speaker: |
Ignatios Antoniadis |
| Department: |
CERN |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Tuesday 26 March 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Speaker: |
Alex Kehagias |
| Department: |
National Technical University of Athens |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Thursday 28 March 2013 at 15:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
I will discuss multifield inflationary models where the cosmological perturbation is sourced by light scalar
fields other than the inflaton. The corresponding perturbations are both scale invariant and special con-
formally invariant. I will describe how standard field-theoretic techniques, like operator product expansion
may determine the spectrum and bispectrum and specify the trispectrum in the squeezed and collapsed limit. |
| Speaker: |
Daniel Fernandez |
| Department: |
University of Barcelona |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Monday 1 April 2013 at 14:00 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
In the context of holography applied to condensed matter theory, I will present an analysis of transport properties of p-wave superfluids by means of a gravity dual. Fluctuation modes in the SU(2) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory are considered, and phenomenological implications are derived. Due to the spatial anisotropy of the system, a non-universal shear viscosity is obtained, along with a new coefficient associated to normal stress differences. I will also discuss how the transport phenomena in this model is related to the thermoelectric, flexoelectric and piezoelectric effects (mixing of electric current, heat flux and mechanical stress).
References:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.4838
http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.0007
|
| Speaker: |
Arkady Tseytlin |
| Department: |
Imperial College |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Tuesday 2 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
We will demonstrate that small closed string in the bulk of AdS space are related by T-duality periodic open string world surface ending on a wavy line at the boundary. This open string solution was previously found by Mikhailov and corresponds to a time-like near BPS Wilson loop differing by small fluctuations from a straight line. A simple relation is found between the shape of the Wilson loop and the shape of the closed string at the moment when it crosses the horizon of the Poincare patch. This suggests that closed string amplitudes with one of the closed strings falling into the Poincare horizon may be dual to gauge theory correlators involving local operators and a Wilson loop of the "T-dual" theory. |
| Speaker: |
Dimitrios Giataganas |
| Department: |
Witwatersrand University |
| Time: |
Wednesday 3 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
We review certain anisotropic gauge/gravity dualities, focusing more on a theory with space dependent axion terms. Then we discuss and also present some new results for several observables: the static potential and force, the imaginary part of the static potential, the quark dipole in the plasma wind, the drag force and diffusion time, the jet quenching of heavy and light quarks, the energy loss of rotating quarks, the photon production and finally the violation of the holographic viscosity over entropy bound. The corresponding weakly coupled results are also discussed. Finally we investigate the bounds of the parameters of the current anisotropic theories attempting to match them with the observed quark-gluon plasma and report the problems appear. |
| Speaker: |
Måns Henningson |
| Department: |
Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg |
| Slides: |
[KEY] |
| Time: |
Thursday 4 April 2013 at 14:00 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Three-dimensional Yang-Mills theory with a Chern-Simons term
is an interesting toy model for quantum field theory. It has
a mass-gap that is visible already in perturbation theory.
We investigate a supersymmetric version of the theory on a
spatial two-torus. A basic quantity to compute is the supersymmetric
index, i.e. the number of zero-energy ground states. A generalization
is to consider states with an energy that remains finite also in
the limit of a small torus. Non-simply connected gauge groups
give rise to interesting topological complications. |
| Speaker: |
Nikolaos Tetradis |
| Department: |
University of Athens |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Monday 8 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
I discuss various features of scalar theories with
higher-derivative terms in the action.
These include: a) classical scattering at length scales much larger
than the fundamental scale (classicalization), b) classical solutions
that can be interpreted as branes connected with throats or
as shock waves, c) the renormalization of a subclass of such theories,
d) the connection with the Galileon theory and the
scenario of asymptotic safety of gravity. |
| Speaker: |
Francesco Aprile |
| Department: |
Barcelona University |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Tuesday 9 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
In the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence I will consider models of (s-wave) holographic superconductors. In the simplest cases, these models contain gravity, a gauge field and a complex scalar. Then, the scalar is related to the condensate in the superconducting phase of the dual field theory. There are several reasons to go beyond this phenomenological formulation, first the need of a precise dictionary for the microscopic dual field theory. Strings embeddings have shown that the dynamics of holographic superconductors is quite universal, the only exception being the retrograde condensate. In this framework, I will describe the bosonic sector of N=2 sugra coupled to one hypermultiplet. The phase diagram of the model is surprisingly rich. The potential has a topological flat direction whose modulus label the superconducting solutions. The modulus turns out to be the coupling of a marginal deformation in the dual field theory. The IR of the bulk solutions is sensible to the strength of this deformation and the resulting geometry is nicely understood in terms of the entanglement entropy. |
| Speaker: |
Eliezer Rabinovici |
| Department: |
Hebrew University |
| Time: |
Wednesday 10 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Topological defects are interfaces joining two conformal field theories, for which the energy momentum tensor is continuous across the interface. A class of the topological defects is provided by the interfaces separating two bulk systems each described by its own Lagrangian, where the two descriptions are related by a discrete symmetry.
In this paper we elaborate on the cases in which the discrete symmetry is a bosonic or a fermionic T- duality. We review how the equations of motion imposed by the defect encode the general bosonic T- duality transformations for toroidal compactifications. We generalize this analysis in some detail to the case of topological defects allowed in coset CFTs, in particular to those cosets where the gauged group is either an axial or vector U(1). This is discussed in both the operator and Lagrangian approaches. We proceed to construct a defect encoding a fermionic T-duality. We show that the fermionic T-duality is implemented by the Super-Poincaré line bundle. The observation that the exponent of the gauge invariant flux on a defect is a kernel of the Fourier-Mukai transform of the Ramond-Ramond fields, is generalized to a fermionic T-duality. This is done via a fiberwise integration on supermanifolds.
|
| Speaker: |
Aristomenis Donos |
| Department: |
Imperial College |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Thursday 11 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Speaker: |
Larus Thorlacius |
| Department: |
Nordita, Stockholm, and the University of Iceland |
| Time: |
Tuesday 16 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Hawking's information paradox arises when one considers
the formation and subsequent evaporation of a black hole.
In a gravity theory with a gauge theory dual, the paradox
must be resolved in favor of unitary evolution and the
challenge is then to implement unitarity on the gravity side.
A key issue, at the center of the recent debate on firewalls,
is whether this requires giving up the equivalence principle
or locality in spacetime. |
| Speaker: |
Efstratios Tsatis |
| Department: |
Patras University |
| Time: |
Thursday 18 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
I will discuss the issue of generalizing the holographic computation of the Entanglement Entropy (due to Takayanagi et al.) in the case where the dual field theory has defects. |
| Speaker: |
Ilias Cholis |
| Department: |
Fermilab |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Tuesday 23 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Recently a series of indications have been put forward suggesting the presence of two gamma-ray lines at ~110-130 GeV
Signals of these lines have been observed towards the Galactic center, at some galaxy
clusters and among some of the unassociated point sources of the 2 years Fermi catalogue.
Such a combination of signals could possibly be explained by dark matter annihilations in the main galactic dark matter halo, in its
substructures and in near by galaxy clusters.
Cosmological simulations that include
baryons, have suggested the presence of a disk-like dark matter (dark disk) which if dominant would impact the smaller DM structures.
By studying the full gamma-ray sky one can test the DM hypothesis and its sensitivity to galactic and extragalactic -non-DM originated- background assumptions;
as well as the consistency between the number of gamma-ray events observed at the lines energies
and the predictions of cosmological simulations such as via Lactea II and extrapolations of its mass-function.
I will also discuss the possible implications of a dark disk on the distribution of the 110 and 130 GeV photons on the sky.
that are neither observed towards the galactic center, the unassociated points sources or the galaxy clusters.
Finally I will present new data from searches for gamma-ray lines at energies ~3-10 GeV related to annihilations of light WIMPs in the galactic center.
|
| Speaker: |
Sophia Domokos |
| Department: |
Weizmann Institute |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Thursday 25 April 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
I will discuss an extension of standard AdS/QCD to encompass all QCD dimension 3 operators. When these are included, we successfully reproduce all (relevant) meson resonances up to about 1300 MeV, and produce expected chiral symmetry breaking patterns. I will present results for the full meson spectrum and some coupling constants in this model from a new, more comprehensive fit to the QCD data. |
| Speaker: |
Zohar Komargodski |
| Department: |
Weizmann Institute |
| Time: |
Friday 26 April 2013 at 9:00 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
We present the low-energy effective theory on long strings in quantum field theory, including a streamlined review of previous literature on the subject. Such long strings can appear in the form of solitonic strings, as in the 4d Abelian Higgs model, or in the form of confining strings, as in Yang-Mills theories. The bottom line is that upon expanding in powers of 1/L the energy levels of long (closed) strings (where L is the length of the string), all the terms up to (and including) order 1/L^5 are universal. We argue that for excited strings in D>3 space-time dimensions there is a universal deviation at order 1/L^5 from the naive formula that is usually used to fit lattice results. For D=3 this naive formula is valid even at order 1/L^5. At order 1/L^7 non-universal terms generically appear in all cases. We explain the physical origin of these results, and illuminate them in three different formulations of the effective action of long strings (the relationships among which we partly clarify). In addition, we corroborate these results by an explicit computation of the effective action on long strings in confining theories which have a gravitational dual. These predictions can be tested by precise simulations of 4d Yang-Mills theory on the lattice. |
| Speaker: |
Jacob Sonnenschein |
| Department: |
University of Tel Aviv |
| Time: |
Friday 26 April 2013 at 14:00 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
We derive a set of constraints on soliton solutions using geometric deformations, and transformations by internal symmetries with space-dependent parameters. We show that Derrick's theorem and a more complete set of constraints due to Manton are special cases of these deformation constraints (DC). We demonstrate also that known soliton solutions obey the DC, and extract novel results by applying the constraints to systems of D-branes, taking into account both Dirac-Born-Infeld and Wess-Zumino actions, and examining cases with and without D-brane gauge fields. We also determine a relation with the Hamiltonian constraint for gravitational systems, and discuss configurations of finite extent, like Wilson lines. |
| Speaker: |
Daniel Thompson |
| Department: |
Vrije Universiteit Brussel |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Tuesday 14 May 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
I shall review some recent progress concerning the use of a
non-abelian generalisation of T-duality as a solution generating
technique in supergravity, focussing on backgrounds with well
understood field theory duals. For $AdS_5\times S^5$ this results in
a background related to those introduced by Gaiotto and Maldacena as
duals to certain N=2 gauge theories obtained by wrapping M5 branes on
Riemann surfaces. For the Klebanov-Witten case, this results in a
solution of the type recently proposed as N=1 cousins of these. In
non-conformal cases we obtain new smooth duals in massive IIA
supergravity. To initiate the field theory interpretation of these
geometries I shall show how some quantities, namely central charge and
entanglement entropy, are left invariant and how these backgrounds
indicate signs of Seiberg duality, domain walls and confinement in
the IR.
Time permitting I shall present brand new results that explain how to
interpret these solutions using the language of G-structures, give
flavour to the above geometries and detail a new class of
supersymmetric solutions obtained as the dual of Y^{p,q} spaces. |
| Speaker: |
Blaise Goutéraux |
| Department: |
Nordita, Stockholm |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Wednesday 15 May 2013 at 15:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
We show that for every asymptotically AdS solution compactified on a torus there is a corresponding Ricci-flat solution obtained by replacing the torus by a sphere, performing a Weyl rescaling of the metric and appropriately analytically continuing the dimension of the torus/sphere (as in generalized dimensional reduction). In particular, it maps Minkowski spacetime to AdS on a torus, the holographic stress-energy tensor of AdS to the stress-energy tensor due to a brane localized in the interior of spacetime and AdS black branes to (asymptotically flat) Schwarzschild black branes. The stress-energy tensor on the flat side is finite, but fails to be captured by the Brown-York procedure or previously proposed counterterms for reasons we will elaborate upon.
Applying it to the known solutions describing the hydrodynamic regime in AdS/CFT, we derive the hydrodynamic stress-tensor of asymptotically flat black branes to second order, which is constrained by the parent conformal symmetry. We compute the dispersion relation of the Gregory-Laflamme unstable modes through cubic order in the wavenumber, finding remarkable agreement with numerical data. |
| Speaker: |
Sheer El-Showk |
| Department: |
Saclay |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Thursday 16 May 2013 at 15:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
The existence of a positive linear functional acting on the space of
(differences between) conformal blocks has been shown to rule out
regions in the parameter space of conformal field theories (CFTs). We
argue that at the boundary of the allowed region the extremal functional
contains, in principle, enough information to determine the dimensions
and OPE coefficients of an infinite number of operators appearing in the
correlator under analysis. Based on this idea we develop the Extremal
Functional Method (EFM), a numerical procedure for deriving the spectrum
and OPE coefficients of CFTs lying on the boundary
(of solution space). We test the EFM by using it to rederive the low
lying spectrum and OPE coefficients of the 2d Ising model based solely
on the dimension of a single scalar quasi-primary – no Virasoro algebra
required. Our work serves as a benchmark for applications to more
interesting, less known CFTs (such as the 3d Ising model) in the near
future.
|
| Speaker: |
Ady Stern |
| Department: |
Weizmann Institute |
| Time: |
Thursday 16 May 2013 at 17:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
In this talk I will introduce the fascinating world of topological
states of matter and the ways by which they may be exploited to
carry out topological quantum computation. I will describe the
building blocks for such computation, called non-abelian anyons.
I will explain what are the physical systems in which they will be
formed, how they can be detected and manipulated, and the
means by which we may engineer them. Most importantly, my
talk will NOT assume any prior knowledge of these scary-looking
terms. |
| Speaker: |
Barbara Erazmus |
| Department: |
CERN and SUBATECH, Nantes |
| Slides: |
[PPT] |
| Time: |
Tuesday 28 May 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Heavy ion collisions at high energy allow to study extreme states of nuclear matter.
The results obtained with the ALICE experiment in lead-lead and proton-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will be presented. Properties of the hot and dense medium created in lead-lead collisions can be deduced from measured multiplicity distributions, spectra and yields of the emitted particles. The observed collective phenomena are well described by hydrodynamic approaches. Hard probes available at the LHC open new possibilities for precise measurements of the properties of the QCD matter. |
| Speaker: |
Emmanuel Saridakis |
| Department: |
National Technical University of Athens and Baylor University |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Thursday 30 May 2013 at 15:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Torsion has been proved to be crucial in gauging gravity, which is in turn a necessary step towards its quantization. On the other hand, almost all the efforts in modifying gravity has been performed in the usual curvature-based framework. We investigate the case where one modifies gravity based on its simplest torsional-teleparallel formulation, namely the f(T) gravity paradigm, and its cosmological applications. In particular, we analyze the perturbations of the theory examining the growth history, we construct a cosmological bounce, and we use solar system observations in order to impose constraints on the f(T) forms. Additionally, we study the case where T is nonminimally coupled to a scalar field, that is the scenario of “teleparallel dark energy”. Finally we analyze the charged black hole solutions of the theory, performing a comparison between f(R) and f(T) modifications. |
| Speaker: |
Sinéad Griffin |
| Department: |
ETH Zurich |
| Time: |
Tuesday 11 June 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Jumping from the expanse of galactic scales to land in the laboratory might seem a gargantuan task. Common to both, however, is the the concept of symmetry breaking and in particular the formation of topological defects. Here I discuss the formation of topological defects in multiferroic YMnO3 whose ferroelectric behavior enables the direct imaging of these defects. I also show how this material can be used to study the Kibble-Zurek model of topological defect formation in the early universe and give quantitative insights on the number of domains formed during the spontaneous symmetry breaking phase transition. We also uncover a surprising 'beyond Kibble-Zurek' behaviour, and discuss this in the context of the material's properties. |
| Speaker: |
Javier Mas |
| Department: |
University of Santiago de Compostela |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Thursday 13 June 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
In this talk we will review the construction of a background dual to Chern-Simons theory with fundamental
fields added (flavoured ABJM). On top of this background we will place probe D6 branes and study
the thermodynamics thereof. We speculate on the possible obtention of a charged background. |
| Speaker: |
James Bartlett |
| Department: |
Université Paris Diderot |
| Time: |
Thursday 13 June 2013 at 17:15 |
| Venue: |
The 3rd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
Since its launch in May 2009, Planck has been surveying the sky in nine
frequency bands spanning 30 to 857 GHz. Its combination of sensitivity,
angular resolution and frequency coverage produces an extremely rich data
set for a wide array of science, from fundamental cosmology with the
primary cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies to the largescale distribution of light and dark matter since recombination.
Our results support the standard spatially flat cosmological model with a
cosmological constant and Gaussian matter perturbations to a precision
never before attained. This is a remarkable statement of the simplicity of
the universe. The Planck parameters differ slightly, but notably, from the
WMAP cosmology, and the high precision has unveiled mild tension with
some astrophysical measurements. In particular, Planck prefers a high
matter density and low Hubble constant. Planck also provides important new
results on the evolution of the universe after recombination through
observations of galaxy clusters, gravitational lensing and of the light
emitted by early star forming galaxies. Of specific note is an intriguing
tension between results from analysis of the primary CMB anisotropies and
those from the cluster redshift distribution, a consequence of the high
matter density. |
| Speaker: |
Konstantinos Anagnostopoulos |
| Department: |
National Technical University of Athens |
| Slides: |
[PDF] |
| Time: |
Friday 14 June 2013 at 14:30 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
It has long been speculated that the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB)
of SO(D) occurs in matrix models obtained by dimensionally reducing super Yang-Mills
theory in D = 6, 10 dimensions. In particular, the D = 10 case corresponds to the IIB
matrix model, which was proposed as a nonperturbative formulation of superstring theory,
and the SSB may correspond to the dynamical generation of four-dimensional space-time.
Recently, it has been shown by using the Gaussian expansion method that the SSB indeed
occurs for D = 6 and D = 10, and interesting nature of the SSB common to both cases
has been suggested. Here we study the same issue by a Monte Carlo method in the D = 6
case. The complex-action problem is overcome by using the factorization method, and
various quantities obtained by appropriate scaling analyses turn out to be consistent with
the previous results obtained by the Gaussian expansion method.
|
| Speaker: |
Dionysios Anninos |
| Department: |
Stanford University |
| Time: |
Tuesday 30 July 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Speaker: |
Diego Hofman |
| Department: |
Stanford University and University of Amsterdam |
| Time: |
Wednesday 31 July 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Speaker: |
Spiros Michalakis |
| Department: |
Caltech |
| Time: |
Tuesday 13 August 2013 at 14:15 |
| Venue: |
The 2nd floor seminar room of the physics department |
| Abstract: |
For quantum lattice systems with local interactions, the popular Lieb-Robinson velocity acts as an alternative to the speed of light, allowing us to translate several famous results of relativistic quantum field theory to the setting of local Hamiltonians with a spectral gap. In this talk in particular, we show that for translation invariant systems, simultaneous eigenstates of energy and momentum with an eigenvalue that is separated from the rest of the spectrum in that momentum sector, can be arbitrarily well approximated by building a momentum superposition of a local operator acting on the ground state. The error decreases exponentially in the size of the support of the local operator, with a rate that is set by the gap below and above the targeted eigenvalue. In other words, our intuition that low-energy excitations look like elementary particles with fixed momentum, is actually pretty accurate. |
