Abstract: In de Sitter (dS), observers cannot be treated as separate from the rest of spacetime, and hence observables are inextricably linked to their observers. In this talk, we emphasize that observers must also be treated using QFT. We then explore how well spaces of states and observables, each defined relative to a QFT observer, approximate standard non-gravitating QFT in a fixed … Read More
Abstract: String theory has its origins based on the so-called dual resonance hypothesis which had only slender experimental support. This led to the discovery of the Veneziano amplitude which sums over poles in one channel or the other, unlike what we do in familiar quantum field theory. I will present a new representation of the Veneziano amplitude, arising from a … Read More
Abstract: Axion-like particles and Dark Photons are two well-motivated candidates of wave-like dark matter and are the subject of many ongoing experimental searches. Many of these rely on resonance phenomena, either directly in the lab or indirectly in astrophysical environments. We will discuss how the Earth’s well-studied ionosphere exhibits features of both of these effects. The weakly-ionised plasma allows for resonant … Read More
Abstract: All black holes in AdS become unstable at a non-zero critical temperature, except if they are protected by supersymmetry. In the favored ground state, the black hole fragments into a a finite matter halo and a smaller remnant. In the dual CFT description, the instability is realized by two phases with distinct condensates that meet at a critical line … Read More