Triangle Seminars

Abstract:
Two interesting properties of static curved space QFTs are Casimir Energies, and the Energy Gaps of fluctuations. We investigate what AdS/CFT has to say about these properties by examining holographic CFTs defined on curved but static spatially closed spacetimes. Being holographic, these CFTs have a dual gravitational description under Gauge/Gravity duality, and these properties of the CFT are reflected in the geometry of the dual bulk. We can turn this on its head and ask, what does the existence of the gravitational bulk dual imply about these properties of the CFTs? In this talk we will consider holographic CFTs where the dual vacuum state is described by pure Einstein gravity with negative cosmological constant. We will argue using the bulk geometry first, that if the CFT spacetime's spatial scalar curvature is positive there is a lower bound on the gap for scalar fluctuations, controlled by the minimum value of the boundary Ricci scalar. In fact, we will show that it is precisely the same bound as is satisfied by free scalar CFTs, suggesting that this bound might be something that applies more generally than just in a Holographic context. We will then show, in the case of 2+1 dimensional CFTs, that the Casimir energy is non-positive, and is in fact negative unless the CFT's scalar curvature is constant. In this case, there is no restriction on the boundary scalar curvature, and we can even allow singularities in the bulk, so long as they are 'good' singularities. If time permits, we will also describe some new results about the Hawking-Page transition in this context.

Abstract:
One of the great successes of string theory, as a theory of quantum gravity, is the explanation of the entropy of asymptotically-flat black holes. I will present, instead, a counting of the microstates of certain black holes in AdS4. The black holes have an holographic description as RG flows from a 3D CFT to superconformal quantum mechanics, and the counting of microstates proceeds via supersymmetric localization. Along the way, we will define and compute an index for topologically twisted theories, and propose an extremization principle to determine the superconformal R-symmetry in quantum mechanics.

Abstract:
Describing work in collaboration with Louise Dolan, I will discuss the scattering equations, originally introduced in 1972 by Fairlie and Roberts searching for new dual models, rediscovered by Gross and Mende in 1988, discussing the high energy behaviour of string theory, and more recently shown by Cachazo, He and Yuan to provide a kinematic basis for describing remarkable formulae for tree amplitudes for massless particles in arbitrary space-time dimension (including scalars, gauge bosons and gravitons). We reformulate the scattering equations for N particles as a system of N -3 homogeneous polynomial equations in N - 2 complex variables, which are linear in each variable separately. The linearity of the equations enables their explicit solution in terms of the roots of a single-variable polynomial of degree (N-3)!, which can itself be explicitly constructed in terms of the Mandelstam variables formed from the momenta. The possible extension to one loop and the special case of four-dimensional space-time will also be briefly discussed.

Abstract:
We study the web of correspondences linking the exceptional Lie algebras E8,7,6 and the sporadic simple groups Monster, Baby and the largest Fischer group.
We will survey some old observations from the perspective of Moonshine and representation theory and present some new ones from that of congruence groups and enumerative geometry.
Based on joint work with John McKay.