Talks

As our understanding of the universe and its fundamental building blocks extends to shorter and shorter distances, experiments capable of probing these scales are becoming increasingly difficult to construct. Fundamental particle physics faces a potential crisis: an absence of data at the shortest possible scales. Yet remarkably, even in the absence of experimental data, the requirement of theoretical consistency puts stringent constraints on viable models of fundamental particles and their interactions. In this talk I’ll discuss a variety of criteria that constrain theories of particles in flat spacetime and de Sitter. Such criteria have the possibility to address questions such as: What low energy theories admit consistent UV completions? Which massive particles are allowed in an interacting theory? Is string theory the unique weakly coupled UV completion of General Relativity?

I will explain that a geometric theory built upon the theory of complex surfaces can be used to understand wide variety of phenomena in five-dimensional supersymmetric theories, which includes the following:

1. Classification of 5d superconformal field theories (SCFTs).
2. Enhanced flavor symmetries of 5d SCFTs.
3. 5d N=1 gauge theory descriptions of 5d and 6d SCFTs.
4. Dualities between 5d N=1 gauge theories.
5. T-dualities between 6d N=(1,0) little string theories.

This relationship between geometry and 5d theories is based on M-theory and F-theory compactifications.

In our four-dimensional world supersymmetry is the only extension of the classical Poincaré invariance which laid the foundation of modern physics in the beginning of the 20th century. Supersymmetry, a new geometric symmetry extending Poincaré, was discovered in 1970 –– it was overlooked for decades because of its quantum nature. In the next 10 years or so supersymmetry 

assumed the role of a universal framework in which new models for natural phenomena and regularities (e.g. the concept of naturalness) have been developed. It gave rise to a powerful stream of theoretical phenomenology.

The fact that LHC at CERN produced no evidence for low-energy supersymmetry (and naturalness as well) was a powerful blow. However, despite its absence in experiments the less known second mission of supersymmetry is highly successful, with remarkable advances occurring on a regular basis. Supersymmetry proved its power and uniqueness for those who address hard questions in strongly coupled field theories, including Yang-Mills. Some supersymmetry-based exact results obtained in four dimensions are the main topics of my talk. In the past one could hardly dream that such results are possible.

Theories beyond the Standard Model of particle physics often predict new, light, feebly interacting particles whose discovery requires novel search strategies. A light particle, the QCD axion, elegantly solves the outstanding strong-CP problem of the Standard Model; cousins of the QCD axion can also appear, and are natural dark matter candidates.  First, I will discuss my experimental proposal based on thin films, in which dark matter can efficiently convert to detectable single photons. A prototype experiment is underway, and current techniques promise to reach significant new dark matter parameter space.

Second, I will show how rotating black holes turn into axionic and gravitational wave beacons, creating nature's laboratories for ultralight bosons. When an axion's Compton wavelength is comparable to a black hole size, energy and angular momentum from the black hole source exponentially-growing bound states of particles, forming `gravitational atoms'.  These `gravitational atoms' emit monochromatic gravitational wave signals, enabling current searches at gravitational wave observatories to discover ultralight axions. If the axions interact with one another, instead of gravitational waves, black holes populate the universe with axion waves.