Sunghyuk Park (Caltech) “R-matrix and a q-series invariant of 3-manifolds”
Abstract: \hat{Z} is a 3d TQFT whose existence was predicted by S. Gukov, D. Pei, P. Putrov, and C. Vafa in 2017 using 3d/3d correspondence. To each 3-manifold equipped with a spin^c structure, \hat{Z} is supposed to assign a q-series with integer coefficients that is categorifiable and provides an analytic continuation of Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants. In 2019, S. Gukov and C. Manolescu initiated … Read More
Lampros Lamprou (UBC) “Falling inside holographic black holes”
Abstract: “I will present a bulk reconstruction technique in AdS/CFT suitable for addressing a facet of the black hole information problem: how to predict the results of measurements accessible to an infalling observer in the black hole interior. I will explicitly apply the method in the AdS_2/SYK correspondence and, time permitting, I will discuss how to overcome the “frozen vacuum” … Read More
Phil Saad (IAS) “Comments on the genus expansion at late times”
Abstract: I will discuss work in progress with Shenker, Stanford, Yang, and Yao focused on understanding certain universal aspects of spacetime wormholes at late times. In particular, we focus on the late time behavior of the spectral form factor, making an analogy with the explanation of these features in semiclassical periodic orbit theory. For semiclassical periodic orbits, the spectral form … Read More