Conference

Higher spin symmetries are gauge symmetries sourced by massless particles with spin greater than two. When coupled with diffeomorphism, they give rise to higher spin gravity. After a review on higher spin gravity, I will discuss its holography and its embedding in the string theory. Finally I will talk about some applications of higher spin symmetry, both in string theory and in QFT.

A spectral triple consists of an algebra, a Hilbert space and a Dirac operator, and if these three fulfill certain relations to each other they contain the entire information of a compact Riemannian manifold. Using the language of spectral triples makes it possible to generalize the concept of a manifold to include non-commutativity. While it is possible to write down finite spectral triples, often categorized as fuzzy spaces, that describe discretized geometries, classical geometries are encoded in infinite dimensional spectral triples. However working in numerical systems (and maybe ultimately in physical systems), only a finite part of this information can be encoded, which opens the question; If we know a part of the spectrum, how clearly can we characterise a geometry. In this talk I will present first steps towards answering this question.

I describe a radical proposal for the cosmological constant problem: perhaps Lambda really is very large, but is "hidden" in Planck-scale fluctuations of geometry and topology. I show that an enormous set of initial data describe a universe with such a hidden cosmological constant at an initial time. The question of whether this structure is preserved under time evolution is still open, but I provide some evidence that it may be. I close with a discussion of open questions that might lead to further insight (or perhaps kill the idea).

During this talk we shall discuss the backreaction of quantum matter fields on classical backgrounds by means of the semiclassical Einstein equation. We shall see that self consistent solutions of this coupled system exist in the case of cosmological spacetimes. Furthermore, Einstein equations governing the backreaction will transfer quantum matter fluctuations to the metric. In particular, we will see how the singular structure of quantum matter will affect the spectrum of metric perturbations

I will discuss the application of Siegel paramodular forms to constructing new examples of holography. These forms are relevant to investigate the growth of coefficients in the elliptic genus of symmetric product orbifolds at large central charge. The main finding is that the landscape of symmetric product theories decomposes into two regions. In one region, the growth of the low energy states is Hagedorn, which indicates a stringy dual. In the other, the growth is much slower, and compatible with the spectrum of a supergravity theory on AdS_3. I will provide a simple diagnostic which places any symmetric product orbifold in either region. The examples I will present open a path to novel realizations of AdS_3/CFT_2.

I'll describe my recent work on black hole seeded vacuum decay, and proposals for testing seeded decay in cold atom experiments. I'll conclude with speculations on seeking insight into quantum black holes via experimentally constructing quantised analog black holes.

After a short introduction to the stochastic GW background I will highlight how one uses currently available LIGO/Virgo/Kagra data not only to learn about compact binaries and the large-scale-structure of our universe, but also to constrain particle physics models beyond the Standard Model, modified gravity proposals, and even quantum gravity theories.

I will discuss a number of ongoing efforts to understand quantum field properties in a manifestly spacetime framework. Entanglement entropy and causal set theory are among the topics that I will especially touch on.

Within a histories-framework for quantum field theory, the condition of \bold{persistence of zero} (PoZ for short) tries to capture (a part of) the elusive idea that no cause can act outside its future lightcone. The PoZ condition, however, does not easily carry over to theories like gravity where the causal structure is not only dynamical but indefinite (subject to quantum fluctuations). Despite this, I will suggest how to give PoZ meaning in the causal set context, and I will raise the hope that the resulting causality-criterion can lead us to a well-defined dynamcs for quantum causal sets.