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A quantum field theory is deemed topological if it exhibits the remarkable property of being independent of any background metric. In contrast to most other types of quantum field theories, topological quantum field theories possess a well-defined mathematical framework, tracing its roots back to the pioneering work of Atiyah in 1988. The mathematical tools employed to define and study topological quantum field theories encompass concepts from category theory, homotopy theory, topology, and algebra.
In this course, we will delve into the mathematical foundations of this field, explore examples and classification results, especially in lower dimensions. Subsequently, we will explore more advanced aspects, such as invertible theories, defects, the cobordism hypothesis, or state sum models in dimensions 3 and 4 (including Turaev-Viro and Douglas-Reutter models), depending on the interests of the audience.
Today, the mathematics of topological quantum field theories has found numerous applications in physics. Recent applications include the study of anomalies, non-invertible symmetries, the classification of topological phases of matter, and lattice models. The course aims to provide the necessary background for understanding these applications.

Quantum position verification (QPV) schemes use the properties of quantum information and the relativistic signalling bound to verify the location of an object (sometimes called a “tag”) to distant observers in an environment that may contain would-be spoofers. The guarantee is based on the assumptions of the underlying security model; various theoretically and practically interesting security models have been proposed. The area is attracting increasing interest, with new theoretical developments in security analyses, emerging experimental studies of QPV systems, and recently discovered surprising and intriguing connections to topics in quantum gravity. A workshop on QPV will be held at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

The workshop will cover topics related to all aspects of QPV, including, but not limited to:

• Theoretical developments related to the security of QPV schemes, including development or refinement of security models, proofs of security within given models, tradeoffs between security and efficiency, and Experimental studies of QPV and theoretical work aimed at developing practical QPV schemes.
• QPV’s relationship to other cryptographic tasks and primitives.
• QPV’s relationship to holography and quantum gravity.

 

Sponsored in part by:  

Territorial Land Acknowledgement

Perimeter Institute acknowledges that it is situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples.

Perimeter Institute is located on the Haldimand Tract. After the American Revolution, the tract was granted by the British to the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation as compensation for their role in the war and for the loss of their traditional lands in upstate New York. Of the 950,000 acres granted to the Haudenosaunee, less than 5 percent remains Six Nations land. Only 6,100 acres remain Mississaugas of the Credit land. 

We thank the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples for hosting us on their land.

The annual Graduate Students’ Conference showcases the diverse research directions at Perimeter Institute, both organized and presented by the students. Our graduate students are invited to share their best work with their fellow PhD students, PSI students and other PI residents interested in hearing about physics research and discussing it in a lively atmosphere full of questions.

 

 

 

Territorial Land Acknowledgement

Perimeter Institute acknowledges that it is situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples.

Perimeter Institute is located on the Haldimand Tract. After the American Revolution, the tract was granted by the British to the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation as compensation for their role in the war and for the loss of their traditional lands in upstate New York. Of the 950,000 acres granted to the Haudenosaunee, less than 5 percent remains Six Nations land. Only 6,100 acres remain Mississaugas of the Credit land. 

We thank the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples for hosting us on their land.

This is an advanced graduate course which develops the math and physics of general relativity from scratch up to the highest level. The going will sometimes be steep but I try to be always careful. The purpose is to prepare for studies in quantum gravity, relativistic quantum information, black hole physics and cosmology. Quick summary of the contents: - Coordinate-free Differential Geometry, Weyl versus Ricci curvature versus Torsion, Vielbein Formalism, Spin-connections, Form-valued Tensors, Spectral Geometry, some Cohomology. - Derivations of General Relativity including as a Gauge Theory, Diffeomorphism Invariance vs. Symmetries, Bianchi Identities vs. Local and Global Conservation Laws. - Penrose Diagrams for Black Holes and Cosmology, Types of Horizons, Energy Conditions and Singularity theorems, Properties and Classification of Exact Solutions. - Cosmology and Models of Cosmic Inflation

The final meeting of It from Qubit: Simons Collaboration on Quantum Fields, Gravity, and Information will be devoted to recent developments at the interface of fundamental physics and quantum information theory, spanning topics such as

• chaos and thermalization in many-body systems and their realization in quantum gravity;
•  information-theoretic constraints on quantum field theories and their RG flows and symmetries;
• gravitational wormholes and their information-theoretic implications;
• calculable lower-dimensional models of quantum gravity; the entanglement structure of semi-classical states in quantum gravity;
•  quantum error-correcting codes in quantum field theory and quantum gravity;
• complexity in field theory and gravity;
• the black-hole information puzzle;
• quantum simulation of quantum field theories and quantum gravity.

Recorded talks: https://pirsa.org/C23021 

Territorial Land Acknowledgement

Perimeter Institute acknowledges that it is situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples.

Perimeter Institute is located on the Haldimand Tract. After the American Revolution, the tract was granted by the British to the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation as compensation for their role in the war and for the loss of their traditional lands in upstate New York. Of the 950,000 acres granted to the Haudenosaunee, less than 5 percent remains Six Nations land. Only 6,100 acres remain Mississaugas of the Credit land. 

We thank the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples for hosting us on their land.

The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is delighted to host the 33rd installment of Strings, the flagship annual conference for the extended string theory community.

Strings 2023 will take place at PI July 24-29. Capacity is limited to 200 in-person attendees. The programming will incorporate an interactive simulcast for virtual attendees.

Recorded talks: https://pirsa.org/C23001

 

Organizing Committee: Sabrina Pasterski,* Freddy Cachazo, Kevin Costello, Davide Gaiotto, Jaume Gomis, Rob Myers, Pedro Vieira, & Alex Buchel.

 

 

 

 

Territorial Land Acknowledgement

Perimeter Institute acknowledges that it is situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples.

Perimeter Institute is located on the Haldimand Tract. After the American Revolution, the tract was granted by the British to the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation as compensation for their role in the war and for the loss of their traditional lands in upstate New York. Of the 950,000 acres granted to the Haudenosaunee, less than 5 percent remains Six Nations land. Only 6,100 acres remain Mississaugas of the Credit land. 

Talks are recorded and posted on PIRSA (within approx 24 hours).

pirsa.org/C23020

The 2023 Tri-Institute Summer School on Elementary Particles (TRISEP) will be held June 19-30, 2023 in Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, ON, Canada.

TRISEP is an international summer school organized jointly by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, SNOLAB, and TRIUMF Canada's laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. TRISEP will feature lectures by leading experts in the field of particle physics in its broadest sense and is designed to be very interactive with ample time for questions, discussions and interaction with the speakers. The school is intended for graduate students of all levels who were already exposed to quantum field theory.

Registration for in person attendance to TRISEP is now open.  Anyone requiring financial assistance to attend must apply by May 19.  Requests for financial assistance are vetted on a case-by-case basis and application for funding is not guaranteed.

TRISEP 2023 Poster

Previous TRISEP Schools:  
2022,  2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

Territorial Land Acknowledgement

Perimeter Institute acknowledges that it is situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples.

Perimeter Institute is located on the Haldimand Tract. After the American Revolution, the tract was granted by the British to the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation as compensation for their role in the war and for the loss of their traditional lands in upstate New York. Of the 950,000 acres granted to the Haudenosaunee, less than 5 percent remains Six Nations land. Only 6,100 acres remain Mississaugas of the Credit land. 

We thank the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples for hosting us on their land.

Machine learning techniques are rapidly being adopted into the field of quantum many-body physics, including condensed matter theory, experiment, and quantum information science. The steady increase in data being produced by highly-controlled quantum experiments brings the potential of machine learning algorithms to the forefront of scientific advancement. Particularly exciting is the prospect of using machine learning for the discovery and design of molecules, quantum materials, synthetic matter, and computers. In order to make progress, the field must address a number of fundamental questions related to the challenges of studying many-body quantum mechanics using classical computing algorithms and hardware.

The goal of this conference is to bring together experts in computational physics, machine learning, and quantum information, to make headway on a number of related topics, including:
- Data-drive quantum state reconstruction
- Machine learning strategies for quantum error correction and quantum control
- Neural-network inspired wavefunctions
- Near-term prospects for data from quantum devices
- Machine learning for quantum algorithm discovery

pirsa.org/C23002

Territorial Land Acknowledgement

Perimeter Institute acknowledges that it is situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples.

Perimeter Institute is located on the Haldimand Tract. After the American Revolution, the tract was granted by the British to the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation as compensation for their role in the war and for the loss of their traditional lands in upstate New York. Of the 950,000 acres granted to the Haudenosaunee, less than 5 percent remains Six Nations land. Only 6,100 acres remain Mississaugas of the Credit land. 

We thank the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples for hosting us on their land.