General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology

In this talk, I will show that supergravity on asymptotically flat spaces possesses a (nonlinear) asymptotic symmetry algebra, containing an infinite number of fermionic generators. Starting from the Hamiltonian action for supergravity with suitable boundary conditions on the graviton and gravitino fields, I will derive a graded extension of the BMS_4 algebra at spatial infinity, denoted by SBMS_4. These boundary conditions are not only invariant under the SBMS_4 algebra, but lead to a fully consistent canonical description of the supersymmetries, which have well-defined Hamiltonian generators. One finds, in particular, that the graded brackets between the fermionic generators yield BMS supertranslations, of which they provide therefore “square roots”.  I will comment on some key aspects of extending the asymptotic analysis at spatial infinity to fermions and on the structure of the SBMS_4 algebra in terms of Lorentz representations.

Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95951230095?pwd=eHIwUXB5SUkvd0IvZnVUN3JJMFE1QT09

In the last few years, various authors have extended the covariant phase space to include arbitrary anomalies, and a notion of improved Noether charge. After reviewing this construction and discussing examples of anomalies, I will point out that the covariance requirements of the seminal Wald-Zoupas paper permit the presence of a special class of anomalies. To illustrate the meaning of such anomalies, one can look at the case of future null infinity where they take the form of the soft terms in the flux-balance laws.

In this talk, I will discuss certain homogeneous spaces of the Poincaré group that correspond to the well-known asymptotic regions of asymptotically flat spacetimes: time-, space-, and light-like infinity. I will then show that all of these spaces admit a uniform description as surfaces embedded in a higher-dimensional space. I will conclude with some comments concerning the computation of correlators of conformal carrollian theories from this embedding space picture.

In this talk I will explore the role of the boundary Cotton tensor in the reconstruction of the solution space of four-dimensional asymptotically AdS and mostly asymptotically flat spacetimes. I will discuss charges from a purely boundary perspective, which emerge in sets of electric and magnetic towers, not necessarily conserved and possibly including subleading components.

On Tuesday, M. Schiavina laid out the theoretical framework for the symplectic reduction of gauge theories in the presence of corners. In this talk I will apply this theoretical framework to Yang-Mills theory on a null boundary and show how a pair of soft charges controls the residual (corner) gauge symmetry after the first-stage symplectic reduction, and therefore the superselection structure of the theory after the second-stage symplectic reduction. I will also discuss the subtleties of the gauge A_u = 0, the interpretation of electromagnetic memory as superselection, and how the nonlinear structure of the non-Abelian theory complicates this picture.

After reviewing the constrained Hamiltonian analysis of geometric actions, the construction is applied to the case of the BMS group in four dimensions, where it yields two plus one dimensional BMS4 invariant field theories. (Based on work done in collaboration with K. Nguyen and R. Ruzziconi)

This talk focuses on classical features of asymptotic QED, i.e. the limit of QED at null and time-like infinity. The BV-BFV formalism allows one to view this as a boundary theory of bulk QED and carries a natural notion of what it means to be a symmetry of the model. I will make the connection between this perspective and the earlier findings of Herdegen (JMP 1996) and Strominger et.al. (JHEP 2014) concerning large gauge symmetries in QED. This is based on a joint paper with Michele Schiavina (CMP 2021).

Celestial Holography proposes a duality between gravitational scattering in asymptotically flat spacetimes and a conformal field theory living on the celestial sphere. The main motivation for this program comes from the connection between soft theorems and asymptotic symmetries in asymptotically flat spacetimes, and our ability to recast soft operators as currents in a codimension 2 CFT. We present a streamlined route from asymptotic symmetries in 4D asymptotically flat spacetimes to currents in a 2D celestial CFT in a manner that makes their relation to QFT soft theorems manifest. We use this to re-examine the bulk picture of radial evolution in the 2D theory and reconcile the construction of charges in CCFT with the more familiar construction from AdS/CFT, despite the differing codimension. In the process, we point out how the Carrollian and Celestial perspectives amount to slicing the bulk and boundary in different ways — our celestial slices cut through the usual corner! — and emphasize how these perspectives inform each other. Based on 2201.06805, 2202.11127 and 2205.10901

The advent of precise measurements of neutron star properties has led to an explosion in "nuclear astrophysics": studying the properties of high-density matter using astrophysical phenomena.  Remarkably, constraints provided by nuclear theory and experiment and high-energy astrophysical observations are now competitive (and often complementary) in constraining the equation of state (EoS) of matter at supernuclear densities.  On the astrophysical side, data have provided a clearer picture how these constraints are affected by the choice of modeling the EoS.  Specifically, the nuclear EoS in astrophysical analyses is usually modeled phenomenologically, and often using ad hoc assumptions.  I will discuss why these ad hoc assumptions will likely cause problems, considering the deluge of coming neutron-star measurements, by comparing these approaches to a data-driven, "nonparametric", model.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94435348102?pwd=OHF2MkNMWStNTlhmdkRQaElNL1M1Zz09

We analyze, first from a geometric point of view, the behavior of dynamical horizons. We then connect with Carrolian fluids and discuss potential phenomena stemming from non-linearities in the resulting equations [This is joint work with Jaime Redondo Yuste]

I will construct explicit actions that are invariant under BMS/conformal Carroll symmetries. Over the last few years, we have developed a systematic procedure for constructing non-Lorentzian theories from limits and expansions of Lorentzian theories. To obtain explicit examples of candidate dual field theories for flat space holography, I apply this procedure to the conformally coupled scalar action, which leads to two classes of actions that are invariant under conformal Carroll symmetries. Time permitting, I will briefly mention ongoing work on the computation and classification of Weyl anomalies in such theories.