Talks

I will explain how cosmological dynamics emerge from the hydrodynamics of isotropic group field theory condensate states in the Gross-Pitaevskii approximation. The correct Friedmann equations are recovered in the classical limit for some choices of the parameters in the action for the group field theory, and quantum gravity corrections arise in the high-curvature regime causing a bounce which generically resolves the big-bang and big-crunch singularities.

The first detections of gravitational waves by LIGO-Virgo initiated the era of Gravitation-Wave Astronomy. Gravitational-waves serve as a new and independent probe of the Universe. In addition, the combination of gravitational-waves with information from other messengers, such as electromagnetic emission from the same source, will lead to a more complete and accurate understanding of cosmology and astrophysics. In this talk, I will discuss some interesting learnings from the Advanced LIGO-Virgo first observing run and several scientific goals we expect to reach in the next few years.

We study the effective BV quantization theory for chiral deformation of two dimensional conformal field theories. We establish an exact correspondence between renormalized quantum master equations for effective functionals and Maurer-Cartan equations for chiral vertex operators. The generating functions are proven to be quasi-modular forms. As an application, we construct an exact solution of quantum B-model (BCOV theory) in complex one dimension that solves the higher genus mirror symmetry conjecture on elliptic curves. The talk is based on arXiv: 1612.01292[math.QA]

Anomalies are a ubiquitous phenomenon in quantum mechanics whereby a classical
symmetry is irrevocably violated by quantization. Anomalies not only constrain the
space of classical theories than are consistent with quantum mechanics but are
responsible for rich, surprising and experimentally tested physical phenomena.
In this talk I will give a non-technical, bird's eye introduction to anomalies.