PIRSA:25030157

Video URL

https://pirsa.org/25030157

The (quantum) life of pi

Sinha, A. (2025). The (quantum) life of pi. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. https://pirsa.org/25030157

Sinha, Aninda. The (quantum) life of pi. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Mar. 04, 2025, https://pirsa.org/25030157 

          @misc{ scivideos_PIRSA:25030157,
            doi = {10.48660/25030157},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/25030157},
            author = {Sinha, Aninda},
            keywords = {Quantum Fields and Strings},
            language = {en},
            title = {The (quantum) life of pi},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics},
            year = {2025},
            month = {mar},
            note = {PIRSA:25030157 see, \url{https://scivideos.org/index.php/pirsa/25030157}}
          }

Aninda Sinha University of Calgary

Talk numberPIRSA:25030157
DOI10.48660/25030157
Source RepositoryPIRSA
Collection
Talk Type Scientific Series
Subject

Abstract

In 1914, Ramanujan wrote down 17 intriguing formulas for 1/pi, which motivated the modern-day machinery of computing trillions of digits of pi. Most of these formulas lay unproven until the 1980s. The Canadian Borwein brothers wrote a comprehensive treatise proving these formulas in the 1980s. We can now ask, “What is the physics behind Ramanujan’s pi”? I will argue that the physics connection can be found via logarithmic conformal field theories, for instance, those studied in the fractional quantum hall effect, polymers, and percolation. The CFT connection gives rise to an infinite number of new formulas for pi. In contrast, the myriad Ramanujan formulas provoke us into looking into faster converging basis for conformal correlators, which is, in turn, provided by the stringy dispersion relation mentioned above.