Scientific Series

In an asymptotically anti-de Sitter space, three-dimensional topologically massive gravity has some remarkable properties, which suggest interesting applications to quantum gravity. Unfortunately, though, the theory appears to be unstable, even at the special \'chiral\' value of the coupling. I will discuss recent work, and recent controversies, in this field.

We study the possibility of a self-correcting quantum memory based on stabilizer codes with geometrically-local stabilizer generators. We prove that the distance of such stabilizer codes in D dimensions is bounded by O(L^{D-1}) where L is the linear size of the D-dimensional lattice. In addition, we prove that in D=1 and D=2, the energy barrier separating different logical states is upper-bounded by a constant independent of L. This shows that in such systems there is no natural energy dissipation mechanism which prevents errors from accumulating. Our results are in contrast with the existence of a classical 2D self-correcting memory, the 2D Ising ferromagnet.

The “clock ambiguity” is a general feature of standard formulations of quantum gravity, as well as a much wider class of theoretical frameworks. The clock ambiguity completely undermines any attempt at uniquely specifying laws of physics at the fundamental level. In this talk I explain in simple terms how the clock ambiguity arises. I then present a number of concrete results which suggest that a statistical approach to physical laws could allow sharp predictions to emerge despite the clock ambiguity. Along the way, I get to ask some interesting questions about what we expect of fundamental laws of physics, and give some surprising answers.

We start by studying the non-computational geometry of fractionally-dimensioned measure-zero dynamically-invariant subsets of phase space, associated with certain deterministic nonlinear dissipative dynamical systems. Then, by studying the asymptotic states of the Hawking Box, the existence of such invariant subsets is conjectured for gravitationally-bound systems. The argument hinges around the phase-space properties of black holes. Like Penrose, it is assumed that phase-space volumes shrink when the contents of the Hawking Box contain black holes. However, unlike Penrose, we do not argue for any corresponding phase-space divergence when the Box does not contain black holes. We now make the hypothesis that these invariant phase-space subsets play a primitive role in fundamental physics; specifically that the state of the universe (“reality”) lies on such an invariant subset (now and hence forever). Attention is focussed on the implications of this hypothesis for the foundations of quantum theory. For example, what are referred to as “measurements” of the quantum state, are defined in terms of symbolic dynamics on the invariant set, relative to some partition of the invariant set. This immediately leads to the notion that any theory which treats these invariant sets as primitive, must be contextual (since counterfactual perturbations almost certainly take states off the measure-zero invariant set and hence to “unreal” regions of phase space where the symbolic partition is undefined). This in turn leads to a new perspective, both on the foundations of quantum theory and on the role of gravity in formulating these foundations. In particular, a measurement-free Neo-Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum theory, based on the Invariant Set Hypothesis will be presented.

In this talk I will discuss gravitational wave production by early universe sources. I will focus on the gravitational waves produced by a network of cosmic strings and the bounds that can be placed on cosmic string model parameters using current and future experiments. I will also talk about recent work on gravitational waves produced by sources in the early universe when the expansion of the universe cannot be neglected. As an example of such a process I will consider the preheating epoch that may follow inflation.

The discovery of integrability in the large N limit of the prototypical realization of the AdS/CFT correspondence has raised the hope that the spectrum of scale dimensions in N=4 SYM (and strings in AdS_5 x S^5) might be known exactly, i.e. to all orders in the coupling constant. So far, most of the efforts focused on closed strings and periodic boundary conditions. In this talk I will discuss how these ideas are extended to open string and open boundary conditions. In particular how to obtain exact expressions for the boundary scattering matrices, discuss the integrability of the boundary conditions and how finite size effects may be taken into account.

I\'ll discuss three promising upcoming experimental measurements that will probe the expansion history of the universe: (1) growth bases tests of Dark Energy with the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect, including new results from the South Pole Telescope and APEX-SZ, (2) inflationary constraints that will be provided by the next generation of CMB-polarization experiments, with prospects from EBEX, and (3) standard ruler measurements from Baryon Acoustic oscillations, including an introduction to an ambitious new Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping initiative called CHIME. The talk will build on the PI-presentation last week from SPT-collaborator Jeff McMahon. I\'ll focus on the experimental aspects of each measurement, it\'s interface to theory, and spend most of the time on (3) CHIME.

A modified version of the double potential formalism for the electrodynamics of dyons is constructed. Besides the two vector potentials, this manifestly duality invariant formulation involves four additional potentials, scalar potentials which appear as Lagrange multipliers for the electric and magnetic Gauss constraints and potentials for the longitudinal electric and magnetic fields. In this framework, a static dyon appears as a Coulomb-like solution without string singularities. Dirac strings are needed only for the Lorentz force law, not for Maxwell\'s equations. The magnetic charge no longer appears as a topological conservation law but as a surface integral on a par with electric charge. The theory is generalized to curved space. As in flat space, the string singularities of dyonic black holes are resolved. As a consequence all singularities are protected by the horizon and the thermodynamics is shown to follow from standard arguments in the grand canonical ensemble.

The rise of quantum information science has been paralleled by the development of a vigorous research program aimed at obtaining an informational characterization or reconstruction of the quantum formalism, in a broad framework for stochastic theories that encompasses quantum and classical theory, but also a wide variety of other theories that can serve as foils to them. Such a reconstruction, at its most ambitious, is envisioned as playing a role in quantum physics similar to Einstein\'s reconstruction of the dynamics and kinetics of macroscopic bodies, and later of their gravitational interactions, on the basis of simple principles with clear operational meanings and experimental consequences. But short of such an ambitious goal, it could still lead to a principled understanding of the features of quantum mechanics that account for its greater-than-classical information-processing power, an understanding which could help guide the search for new quantum algorithms and protocols. I will summarize a convex operational framework for possible physical theories, and present results from a project to characterize quantum mechanics in terms of principles tightly linked to the possibility or impossibility of various information processing protocols. Previous results identified properties, like the existence of information-disturbance tradeoffs and restrictions on cloning and broadcasting, common to all nonclassical theories. In this talk I will focus on recent results involving protocols that are less generic. These are: the existence of exponentially secure bit commitment in non-classical theories without entanglement, the consequences for theories of the existence of a conclusive teleportation scheme, and sufficient conditions for the existence of a deterministic teleportation scheme. I\'ll also discuss sufficient conditions for \'remote steering\' of ensembles using entanglement, rendering insecure bit commitment protocols of the form shown to be secure in the unentangled case. Connections to the category-theoretic approach of Coecke and Abramsky, Selinger, Baez, and collaborators may be touched on if time permits. Joint work with various groups of collaborators including Jonathan Barrett, Matthew Leifer, Alexander Wilce, Oscar Dahlsten, and Ben Toner.

Theoretical neuroscience, like theoretical physics, attempts to discover and quantify the basic principles governing the systems it studies. Currently, however, there are very few attempts at unification across the levels of organization found in the brain. In this talk, I will describe the biological mechanisms of interest to neuroscientists, and describe a quantitative method for constructing sophisticated models of these mechanisms. Through a series of examples, I will show how the three principles that make up this method are general, allowing us to better understand a broad range of complex behaviour in a unified manner.

WMAP measurements of CMB temperature anisotropies reveal a power asymmetry: the average amplitude of temperature fluctuations in one hemisphere is larger than the average amplitude in the opposite hemisphere at the 99% confidence level. This power asymmetry may be generated during inflation by a large-amplitude superhorizon perturbation that causes the mean energy density to vary across the observable Universe. Such a superhorizon perturbation would also induce large-scale temperature anisotropies in the CMB; measurements of the CMB quadrupole and octupole (but not the dipole!) therefore constrain the perturbation\'s amplitude and wavelength. I will show how a superhorizon perturbation in a multi-field inflationary theory, the curvaton model, can produce the observed power asymmetry without generating unacceptable temperature fluctuations in the CMB. I will also discuss how this mechanism for generating the power asymmetry will be tested by forthcoming CMB experiments.

We review basic properties of effective worldvolume theory describing the dynamics of Dirichlet branes in type II supergravity backgrounds and then show that the SL(2,R) symmetry of IIB supergravity allows for the existence of new supersymmetric 7-brane configurations called Q7-branes. The Q7-branes differ from the D7-branes, in particular, by their coupling to the dilaton, axion and to `magnetic\' gauge field duals thereof. The appearance of Q7-branes and their instanton duals may indicate the existence of a new, yet unexplored, perturbative vacuum of type IIB string theory.