Talks

Despite first observing cosmic rays with energies above an EeV (10^18 eV) in the 1960s, the source of these particles remains an open question. Modern observatories, in particular the Pierre Auger Observatory and Telescope Array, have firmly established that the cosmic ray spectrum continues up to ~10^20.3 eV and have significantly advanced our understanding of these particles. However, limited statistics, uncertainties in particle physics, and significant deflections in the Galactic magnetic field have made progress towards discovering their astrophysical source extremely challenging. One key astrophysical input needed to understand ultrahigh energy cosmic ray data is the distribution of their sources, or the source evolution. In this talk, I will focus on multimessenger observations which have the potential to pin down the source evolution for the very first time.

Zoom Link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94054513261?pwd=aHRNWE04VDI2cDA2RmRYQmtNRnd3dz09

Cosmology presents some puzzling aspects: the cosmological constant, the nature of the big bang, the source of inflation, and perhaps the tension in Hubble constant values. One normally uses standard effective field theory to study cosmology. But we know that such an approach fails in black holes due to the information paradox. We will draw on lessons on black holes to see how quantum gravity effects can modify evolution on macroscopic scales, and that such effects may be important is resolving puzzles in cosmology.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/98085421952?pwd=NFBCWXNBNkhrTVpaRkRlOWRtSkczdz09

We explore how measurements and unitary feedback can generate distinct phases of matter from a given resource state, with a specific focus on the toric code in two dimensions. First, we map random Pauli measurements on the toric code to a classical loop model with crossings, and we show how measurement-induced entanglement exactly maps to watermelon correlators of the loop model.  Then, we consider measuring all but a 1d boundary of qubits, and we map this setup to hybrid circuits in 1+1 dimensions.  In particular, we find that varying the probabilities of different Pauli measurements can drive phase transitions in the unmeasured boundary between phases with different orders and entanglement scaling, corresponding to short and long loop phases in the classical model.  Finally, by utilizing single-site boundary unitaries conditioned on the bulk measurement outcomes, we generate mixed state ordered phases and transitions that can be experimentally diagnosed with linear observables. Our findings showcase the potential of measurement-based quantum computing setups in producing and manipulating phases of matter.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99159680593?pwd=V29wRit6T3NlSjZGTDEvTnRFcTlrUT09

EMRIs are one of the primary targets of spaceborne gravitational wave (GW) detectors and will be ideal GW sources for testing fundamental laws of gravity. In a generic non-Kerr spacetime,  the EMRI system  is non-integrable due to the lack of the Carter constant. As a result,  chaos along with resonance islands arise in these systems leaving a non-Kerr signature in the EMRI waveform as proposed in many previous studies. In this work, we systematically analyze the dynamics of an EMRI system near orbital resonances and we have derived an effective resonant Hamiltonian that describes the dynamics of the resonant degree of freedom  with the action-angle formalism. We have two major findings: (1) the chaotic orbits in general produce unique commensurate jumps in actions and (2) the EMRI orbits driven by radiation-reaction in general do not cross the resonance islands.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95975225333?pwd=V05NZzQ3cE9neUZpN3RIOCt0UE5mZz09

I will describe a correspondence between hyperkähler/quaternion-Kähler geometry and two dimensional chiral algebras that arises from twistor theory. As an application, I will explain how to use correlators of these chiral algebras to compute gravitational scattering amplitudes in four dimensional general relativity.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/98706048161?pwd=a3k1U3l2UXJlUjlqUElkOEZhZGwwUT09

"I describe a candidate for a fundamental physical theory called the causal theory of views. This describes a world constructed by a continual creation of events; where an event is a transition at which a small portion of the possible becomes actual. I first recall older results which includes the emergence of space and, with space, a non-relativistic N-body quantum dynamics. I next describe recent progress on this model including, in a different limit, a formulation of a cut off quantum field theory, which we describe in terms of an S-Matrix formulation of amplitudes. The dynamics is specified by an action principle consisting of a kinetic energy and potential energy term. The former are based on measures of how quickly components of causal change do so with respect to averaged notions. The potential energy terms measure how much local moves alter an observer's ""view"" of the universe, as seen from their perspective. These results show that quantum dynamics is restored in an N to infinity limit. Measurable non-linear corrections to quantum dynamics emerge to higher order in 1/sqrt{N}. "

Getting the strongest physics conclusions from collider particle physics experiments regarding the (in)consistency of the Standard Model with actual measurements requires Effective Field Theory techniques. This approach (known as the SMEFT) has been rapidly advanced in recent years, leading to new analyses of the data being executed by Atlas and CMS. The current state of the theoretical art is not precise enough as such EXP studies are continued into the future, as the measurements continue to become more precise. We need to be able to calculate more precisely in the SMEFT to keep up. After an intro to this area of research, I will discuss some recent calculations that have pushed things to the two loop level in precision for higgs production/decay in the SMEFT, and how thinking geometrically (in terms of field space connections and the resulting Higgs geometries) in EFT is the key to keep advancing the theoretical state of the art.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99931154202?pwd=SUMzK2JIS0prNk5KaGZWakphckZhdz09

We develop the bulk geometric description of correlation functions of operators whose scaling dimensions are of order the central charge in AdS/CFT. We follow a bottom-up approach, discussing solutions to Einstein gravity that are closely related to familiar black holes in AdS. In order to reproduce the correct dependence of a conformal correlation function on the location of operator insertions, we must introduce a novel Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary term associated with the stretched horizon of each black hole. We discuss the bulk dual of two point functions in CFT’s living in arbitrary dimensions. Specializing to AdS3 allows us to discuss higher point functions, where we find that the dual geometries are sometimes multi-boundary wormholes, whose holographic interpretation has been the focus of much recent activity.

Zoom Link: TBD

Analogical reasoning has a long and distinguished history as a method for making discoveries in physics. I will discuss novel uses of formal analogies in twentieth century particle physics and condensed matter physics. I will then offer some reflections on how methodological lessons from these cases could inform the use of analogies in discoveries related to quantum gravity.

In modern cosmology there is an agreement that the seeds of structure formations resides in the quantum fluctuation of the geometry in the early universe, but there is no agreement about how these could be derived from a quantum theory of gravity. In this talk I present a proposal based on the covariant formulation of Loop Quantum Gravity. I describe how to define a wavefunction of the universe in this context, and a how we can study fluctuations and correlations between spacial regions. The results obtained so far has been made possible by recent progress in numerical computations. I discuss the current state of this research program and the possible implications for modeling the early universe.