Talks

Defects and their RG flows play an important role in many systems, with perhaps the most famous example being the Kondo effect. We study Kondo-like interface flows in D1/D5 holography from the point of view of both probe branes and of the corresponding backreacted supergravity solutions.

In the context of geometric quantisation, one starts with the data of a symplectic manifold together with a pre-quantum line bundle, and obtains a quantum Hilbert space by means of the auxiliary structure of a polarisation, i.e. typically a Lagrangian foliation or a Kähler structure. One common and widely studied problem is that of quantising Hamiltonian flows which do not preserve it. In the simple case of Kähler quantisation of a symplectic vector space, one may consider the space of all Kähler structures, and organise the corresponding Hilbert spaces to form an infinite-rank vector bundle on it, so the quantisation of symplectic transformations may be understood in terms of their action on this bundle.
In this talk I shall consider a variation of this construction for the case of a hyper-Kähler vector space V, in which case the symplectic form and the pre-quantum line bundle are allowed to change together with the complex structure. In a joint work with Andersen and Rembado, we construct a bundle of Hilbert spaces on the sphere of Kähler structures, on which a flat connection is naturally defined. The group of isometries of V which preserve this sphere globally also acts on the bundle, and the construction determines a quantisation of this group. Time permitting, I shall discuss our main application of this construction—the quantisation of the circle action on the moduli space of reductive Higgs bundles over an elliptic curve.

I will discuss the computation of second-order terms in the entanglement entropy and subregion complexity for a spherical entangling region in the AdS black hole background relative to pure AdS. I will suggest an extension of the conjectured relationship between subregion complexity and Fisher information into a relation that is reminiscent of the first law of thermodynamics. By analogy, entanglement and complexity play the roles of heat and work, respectively. Time permitting, I will also discuss the computation of third- and fourth-order terms in the relative entropy. 

This is practice for a talk at Berkeley, so it will involve explaining stuff many people here probably already know.  I'll try to summarize what I've learned about 3 dimensional N=4 supersymmetric quantum field theories, their twists and how these manifest in terms of interesting objects in mathematics.  If nothing else, hopefully there will be some comedy value in my attempt.