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Dr. Nathan Benjamin (Caltech)-Pure gravity and the bootstrap

Dr. Nathan Benjamin
March 7, 2023
11:00AM - 12:00PM
1080 Physics Research Building

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Add to Calendar 2023-03-07 11:00:00 2023-03-07 12:00:00 Dr. Nathan Benjamin (Caltech)-Pure gravity and the bootstrap Dr. Nathan Benjamin Caltech Pure gravity and the bootstrap Location: 1080 Physics Research Building, Smith Seminar Room Faculty Host: Samir Mathur Abstract: Unifying quantum mechanics and general relativity is one of the outstanding problems in theoretical high energy physics today. Remarkably, in certain situations, theories of quantum gravity are equivalent to a certain class of field theories called conformal field theories. Unlike in quantum gravity, the “rules” of conformal field theory are well known, and are systematically studied in a program called the conformal bootstrap. Questions in quantum gravity can then be translated into concrete, explicit questions in conformal field theory. I will describe recent results in using this translation to rule out naively healthy theories of quantum gravity in three spacetime dimensions using conformal bootstrap techniques.  I will also show new deep connections between conformal field theories and topics in modern mathematics. Bio: Nathan Benjamin is a Sherman Fairchild postdoctoral scholar at Caltech studying theoretical physics. He is interested in string theory, quantum field theory, conformal field theory, and the AdS/CFT correspondence. He received his SB from MIT in 2013, and his PhD from Stanford University in 2018 under the supervision of Shamit Kachru. After his PhD he was a postdoc at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science at Princeton University from 2018 to 2021, and at the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at Caltech starting from 2021.       1080 Physics Research Building Department of Physics physics@osu.edu America/New_York public

Dr. Nathan Benjamin

Caltech

Pure gravity and the bootstrap

Location: 1080 Physics Research Building, Smith Seminar Room

Faculty Host: Samir Mathur

Dr. Nathan Benjamin

Abstract: Unifying quantum mechanics and general relativity is one of the outstanding problems in theoretical high energy physics today. Remarkably, in certain situations, theories of quantum gravity are equivalent to a certain class of field theories called conformal field theories. Unlike in quantum gravity, the “rules” of conformal field theory are well known, and are systematically studied in a program called the conformal bootstrap. Questions in quantum gravity can then be translated into concrete, explicit questions in conformal field theory. I will describe recent results in using this translation to rule out naively healthy theories of quantum gravity in three spacetime dimensions using conformal bootstrap techniques.  I will also show new deep connections between conformal field theories and topics in modern mathematics.

Bio: Nathan Benjamin is a Sherman Fairchild postdoctoral scholar at Caltech studying theoretical physics. He is interested in string theory, quantum field theory, conformal field theory, and the AdS/CFT correspondence. He received his SB from MIT in 2013, and his PhD from Stanford University in 2018 under the supervision of Shamit Kachru. After his PhD he was a postdoc at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science at Princeton University from 2018 to 2021, and at the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at Caltech starting from 2021.