# String Seminars

This series consists of talks in the area of Superstring Theory.

## Seminar Series Events/Videos

Currently there are no upcoming talks in this series.

## Bootstrapping CFTs with the Extremal Functional Method

Tuesday Nov 27, 2012
Speaker(s):

The existence of a
positive linear functional acting on the space of (differences between)
conformal blocks has been shown to rule out regions in the parameter space of
conformal field theories (CFTs). We argue that at the boundary of the allowed
region the extremal functional contains, in principle, enough information to
determine the dimensions and OPE coefficients of an infinite number of
operators appearing in the correlator under analysis. Based on this idea we

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## 3 point functions in the AdS4/CFT3 correspondence

Tuesday Nov 20, 2012
Speaker(s):

I will present recent developments in the computation of
three point functions in the AdS4/CFT3 correspondence. More specifically I will
consider two different computations for three point functions of operators
belonging to the SU(2)XSU(2) sector of  ABJM. I
will discuss first the generalization of the
determinant representation, found by Foda for the three-point functions of
the SU(2) sector of N = 4 SYM, to the ABJM theory and

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## Anomaly-induced transport and thermodynamics

Tuesday Nov 13, 2012
Speaker(s):

I will discuss recent progress in the study of
anomaly-induced transport, focusing on the chiral vortical effect in 3+1 dimensions.
Most of my discussion will be framed in light of a larger story, namely
progress in making exact statements about finite-temperature quantum field
theory, for which the chiral magnetic and vortical effects are instructive
prototypes.

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## Holomorphic Blocks in 3d

Tuesday Nov 06, 2012
Speaker(s):

Recently techniques have been developed to compute the
partition functions of 3d theories with N=2 supersymmetry on curved, compact
spaces, in particular S^3 and S^2xS^1 (the latter giving a supersymmetric
index). I will discuss how both of these partition functions can be decomposed
as products of more fundamental, universal "holomorphic blocks." For
3d gauge theories arising from (auxiliary) 3-manifolds M, these holomorphic
blocks are specific Chern-Simons partition functions on M.

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## From Effective Strings to the Simplest theory of Quantum Gravity

Tuesday Oct 23, 2012

String-like objects arise in many quantum field theories.
Well known examples include flux tubes in QCD and cosmic strings. To a first approximation,
their dynamics is governed by the Nambu-Goto action, but for QCD flux tubes
numerical calculations of the energy levels of these objects have become so
accurate that a systematic understanding of corrections to this simple
description is desirable.

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## Constraining RG flow in three-dimensional field theory

Tuesday Oct 16, 2012
Speaker(s):

The entanglement entropy S(R) across a circle of radius R
has been invoked recently in deriving general constraints on renormalization
group flow in three-dimensional field theory.
At conformal fixed points, the negative of the finite part of the
entanglement entropy, which is called F, is equal to the free energy on the
round three-sphere. The F-theorem states that F decreases under RG flow.

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## AdS(3)/CFT(2) correspondence and integrability

Tuesday Oct 09, 2012
Speaker(s):

Integrability has been successfully used to compute the
non-perturbative spectrum, Wilson loops and scattering amplitudes in the
AdS/CFT correspondence. Most of these results apply to N=4, D=4 SYM / strings
on AdS(5)xS(5). Strings on AdS(3)xM, where M is either

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## Large-N Collective Fields and de Sitter / CFT correspondence

Tuesday Sep 25, 2012
Speaker(s):

We derive the collective theory of singlet fields of large-N Sp(N) spin
models and display its unconventional features. Using the known relationship
between O(N) collective fields and higher spin fields of Vasiliev theory in AdS
space, we argue that the unique features of the Sp(N) collective
theory suggest an interpretation in terms of a higher spin theory in de Sitter
space, as proposed by Anninos, Hartman and Strominger.  This is
reminiscent of the way the Liouville mode is naturally  interpreted as

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## The Exploration of Hot QCD Matter

Tuesday Sep 11, 2012
Speaker(s):

When nuclear matter is heated beyond a temperature of 2 trillion

degrees, it converts into a strongly coupled plasma of quarks and

gluons, the sQGP. Experiments using highly energetic collisions

between heavy nuclei have revealed that this new state of matter is a

nearly ideal, highly opaque liquid. A description based upon string

theory and black holes in five dimensions has made the quark- gluon

plasma an iconic example of a strongly coupled quantum system. In this

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## DT-invariants and $K_2$

Thursday Aug 23, 2012
Speaker(s):

TBA

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## RECENT PUBLIC LECTURE

### Mario Livio: Brilliant Blunders

Speaker: Mario Livio