Physics Events

• Monday, April 24, 2017
High Energy Theory Seminar
“Entanglement Entropy and the Colored Jones Polynomial”

Time: 2:45 PM
Speaker(s): Onkar Parrikar, University of Pennsylvania

Description: We will study the entanglement structure of states in Chern-Simons (CS) theory obtained by performing the Euclidean path-integral on certain highly non-trivial 3-manifolds, namely link complements in S^3. This will allow us to assign an entanglement entropy to any bi-partition of an n-component link into sub-links; these entropies in fact provide framing independent link-invariants. In U(1) CS theory, we will give a general formula for the entanglement entropy across a bi-partition of a generic n-link into sub-links. In the non-Abelian SU(2) theory, we study various interesting 2 & 3-links including the Whitehead link and Borromean rings, both of which have non-trivial entanglement structures. If time permits, we will consider SL(2,C) and mention connections with gravity and hyperbolic geometry.

• Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Physics Group Meeting
“On the Operator Content of dS”

Location: Bloomberg Hall Physics Library
Time: 1:45 PM
Speaker(s): Dionysios Anninos, Member, School of Natural Sciences, IAS

Description: We discuss the operator content of an asymptotic dS universe, using as an example the Vasiliev theory of massless interacting higher spin particles in a dS vacuum.

• Thursday, April 27, 2017
Hamilton Colloquium Series
“LHC at 13 TeV”

Time: 4:00 PM
Speaker(s): James Olsen, Princeton University

Description: In 2015 the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) resumed proton collisions at a new record energy of 13 trillion electronvolts (13 TeV) and doubled the interaction rate achieved in the 2010-2012 run. With the discovery of the Higgs boson in Run 1, the search for new particles and interactions beyond those described by the standard model has intensified in Run 2, during which the amount of data collected has already eclipsed the previous datasets at 7 and 8 TeV. I will describe the challenges presented by the new running conditions, how those challenges were met by the CMS experiment, and selected results from the 13 TeV data. Near-term and long-term goals will also be discussed, including detector upgrades targeting the High-Luminosity LHC era set to begin in the middle of the next decade.

• Friday, April 28, 2017
High Energy Theory Seminar
“TBA”

Location: Jadwin Hall, PCTS Seminar Room
Time: 1:45 PM
Speaker(s): Wolfger Peelaers, Rutgers University

• Monday, May 1, 2017
PCTS Seventh Annual Lecturer
“TBA”

Location: TBA
Time: 9:00 AM
Speaker(s): Charles Kane, University of Pennsylvania

Description: Schedule of Talks and Seminars will be announced soon.

• Tuesday, May 2, 2017
PCTS Seventh Annual Lecturer
“Symmetry Protected Topological Insulators and Semimetals”

Location: Jadwin Hall, PCTS, Room 407
Time: 2:30 PM
Speaker(s): Charles Kane, University of Pennsylvania

Description: We will discuss recent developments in topological band theory, in which the combination of time reversal symmetry and crystal symmetries lead to novel insulating and semimetallic states. After introducing the interplay between symmetry and topology in the electronic structure of crystalline materials, we will discuss several examples of protected metallic states that can occur on the surface and in the bulk. These include Dirac semimetals in two and three dimensions, double Dirac semimetals and line node semimetals as well as new classes of topological crystalline insulators with surface states that violate symmetry enhanced doubling theorems. We will contrast semimetallic behavior that arises due to band inversion with filling enforced semimetals that arise due to the existence of non-symmorphic space group symmetries.

• Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Pheno & Vino Seminar
“TBA”

Time: 4:00 PM
Speaker(s): Brian Batell, University of Pittsburgh

• Wednesday, May 3, 2017
PCTS Seventh Annual Lecturer
“TBA”

Location: TBA
Time: 9:00 AM
Speaker(s): Charles Kane, University of Pennsylvania

Description: Schedule of Talks and Seminars will be announced soon.

• Thursday, May 4, 2017
The Hamilton Lecture
“Topological Phases of Matter”

Location: McDonnell, Room A02
Time: 8:00 PM
Speaker(s): Charles Kane, University of Pennsylvania

Description: Matter can arrange itself in the most ingenious ways. In addition to the solid, liquid and gas phases that are familiar in classical physics, quantum mechanics enables the existence of electronic phases of matter that can have both exotic and useful properties. In the last century, the thorough understanding of the simplest quantum electronic phase - the electrical insulator - enabled the development of the solid state electronics technology that is ubiquitous in today's information age. In the present century, new "topological" electronic phases are being discovered that may enable future technologies by allowing the seemingly impossible to occur: indivisible objects, like an electron or a quantum bit of information, can be split into two, allowing mysterious features of quantum mechanics to be harnessed. Our understanding of topological phases, which was celebrated by the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics, builds on deep ideas in mathematics. We will try to convey that they are as beautiful as they are fundamental.

• Friday, May 5, 2017
PCTS Seventh Annual Lecturer
“Clustering in Luttinger Liquids and the Quantum Hall Effect”

Location: Jadwin Hall, PCTS, Room 407
Time: 11:00 AM
Speaker(s): Charles Kane, University of Pennsylvania

Description: The coupled wire model is a simple formulation of the fractional quantum Hall effect that provides an explicit connection between the bulk topological order and the edge conformal field theory in the context of a solvable electronic model of coupled Luttinger liquids. Here we will consider the effects of pairing and higher order clustering on the Luttinger liquids. We will argue that a single Luttinger liquid can exhibit a pairing transition that is related to the transition between a topological and trivial superconductor. Incoporating pairing in the coupled wire model allows a simple formulation of the Moore-Read state and it's cousins. We will go on to consider higher order clustering of k particles, which leads to a formulation of the Read-Rezayi $Z_k$ parafermion states and identify a class of "orbifold" quantum Hall states that generalize the $Z_4$ Read Rezayi state.

• Friday, May 5, 2017
High Energy Theory Seminar
“TBA”

Location: Bloomberg Hall Physics Library
Time: 1:45 PM
Speaker(s): Douglas Stanford, Member, School of Natural Sciences, IAS

• Monday, May 8, 2017
High Energy Theory Seminar
“TBA”

Location: Bloomberg Lecture Hall
Time: 2:30 PM
Speaker(s): Nikita Nekrasov, Stonybrook University

• Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Physics Group Meeting
“TBA”

Location: Bloomberg Hall Physics Library
Time: 1:45 PM
Speaker(s): Pavel Putrov, Member, School of Natural Sciences, IAS

• Thursday, May 11, 2017
PCTS Spring Program
“Bangs, Bounces, Black Holes, and Bubbles: Where General Relativity Meets Cosmology”

Location: Jadwin Hall, Room 407, PCTS Seminar Room
Time: 8:00 AM
Note: FREE, but REQUIRED REGISTRATION is limited and available online

Description: Workshop Organizers: Anna Ijjas & Paul Steinhardt, PCTS

SPEAKERS

Claudia de Rham, Imperial College
Rehan Deen, University of Pennsylvania
Will East, Perimeter Institute
Raphael Flauger, UCSD
David Garfinkle, Oakland University
Ruth Gregory, Durham University
Luis Lehner, Perimeter Institute
Jean-Luc Lehners, MPG
Hermann Nicolai, MPG
Burt Ovrut, University of Pennsylvania
Vasilis Paschalidis, Princeton University
Frans Pretorius, Princeton University
Rachel Rosen, Columbia University
Andrew Tolley, Imperial College
http://pcts.princeton.edu/pcts

• Friday, May 12, 2017
PCTS Spring Program
“Bangs, Bounces, Black Holes, and Bubbles: Where General Relativity Meets Cosmology”

Location: Jadwin Hall, Room 407, PCTS Seminar Room
Time: 8:00 AM
Note: FREE, but REQUIRED REGISTRATION is limited and available online

Description: Workshop Organizers: Anna Ijjas & Paul Steinhardt, PCTS

SPEAKERS

Claudia de Rham, Imperial College
Rehan Deen, University of Pennsylvania
Will East, Perimeter Institute
Raphael Flauger, UCSD
David Garfinkle, Oakland University
Ruth Gregory, Durham University
Luis Lehner, Perimeter Institute
Jean-Luc Lehners, MPG
Hermann Nicolai, MPG
Burt Ovrut, University of Pennsylvania
Vasilis Paschalidis, Princeton University
Frans Pretorius, Princeton University
Rachel Rosen, Columbia University
Andrew Tolley, Imperial College
http://pcts.princeton.edu/pcts

• Saturday, May 13, 2017
PCTS Spring Program
“Bangs, Bounces, Black Holes, and Bubbles: Where General Relativity Meets Cosmology”

Location: Jadwin Hall, Room 407, PCTS Seminar Room
Time: 8:00 AM
Note: FREE, but REQUIRED REGISTRATION is limited and available online

Description: Workshop Organizers: Anna Ijjas & Paul Steinhardt, PCTS

SPEAKERS

Claudia de Rham, Imperial College
Rehan Deen, University of Pennsylvania
Will East, Perimeter Institute
Raphael Flauger, UCSD
David Garfinkle, Oakland University
Ruth Gregory, Durham University
Luis Lehner, Perimeter Institute
Jean-Luc Lehners, MPG
Hermann Nicolai, MPG
Burt Ovrut, University of Pennsylvania
Vasilis Paschalidis, Princeton University
Frans Pretorius, Princeton University
Rachel Rosen, Columbia University
Andrew Tolley, Imperial College
http://pcts.princeton.edu/pcts

• Monday, May 15, 2017
High Energy Theory Seminar
“TBA”

Location: Jadwin Hall, PCTS Seminar Room, 4th Floor
Time: 2:30 PM
Speaker(s): Gustavo Joaquin Turiaci, Princeton University

• Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Physics Group Meeting
“TBA”

Location: Bloomberg Hall Physics Library
Time: 1:45 PM
Speaker(s): Dima Krotov, Member, School of Natural Sciences, IAS

• Friday, May 19, 2017
High Energy Theory Seminar
“TBA”

Location: Bloomberg Hall Physics Library
Time: 1:45 PM
Speaker(s): TBA, TBA

• Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Physics Group Meeting
“TBA”

Location: Bloomberg Hall Physics Library
Time: 1:45 PM
Speaker(s): TBA, TBA

• Sunday, December 3, 2017
Simons Workshop

Time: 7:00 AM