Search Talks

The fuzzball proposal makes a conjecture about the nature of black hole
microstates. Now, more than a decade old and including several different
philosophies and perspectives, it is especially relevant after the recent
firewall argument and ensuing debate. Over three lectures, I plan to start
with a very general discussion of the general ideas and motivations, then
review the theoretical evidence from string theory, and finally close by
discussing open questions, including the fate of a freely falling observer

as he/she passes through the black hole horizon.

We discuss how bipartite graphs on Riemann surfaces encapture a wealth of information about the physics of large classes of supersymmetric gauge theories, especially those with quiver structure and arising from the AdS/CFT context. The correspondence between the gauge theory, the underlying algebraic geometry of it space of vacua, the combinatorics of dimers and toric varieties, as well as the number theory of dessin d'enfants becomes particular intricate under this light.