The original singularity theorems of Penrose and Hawking have, in their hypotheses, pointwise energy conditions violated by some classical and all quantum fields. If we want to extend their validity to semiclassical gravity, these conditions have to be replaced by weaker ones. In this talk I will first discuss recent results for singularity theorems with weakened energy conditions, some of which are obeyed by quantum fields. Then I will argue for the need of singularity theorems with worldvolume averaged energy conditions both in the timelike and the null case. For each case I will present progress and open questions.

In the first part of the talk I will recap the black hole thermodynamics of a certain non-supersymmetric asymptotically AdS_5 black hole: I will define its asymptotic charges and associated potentials and show some thermodynamic relations between them. Then I will describe the so-called BPS point, where the black hole is extremal (zero temperature) and supersymmetric. Finally, I will show how to approach the vicinity of the BPS point, without exactly landing on it and discuss the significance of this near-BPS limit and its relation to the Schwarzian mode. In the second part of the talk, I will introduce the holographically dual 4d field theory and describe its basic properties. In particular, I will describe how the supersymmetry breaking (which occurred on the gravity side) can be kept under control on the field theory side. Finally, I will present a preliminary calculation providing a match between the classical gravity partition function and the classical field theory partition function in this thermal setting.

We derive a universal inequality on the unitary 2D CFT partition function with general central charge $c\geqslant 0$, using analytical modular bootstrap. We derive an iterative equation for the domain of validity of the bound on the mixed-temperature plane. The infinite iteration of this equation gives the boundary of maximal-validity domain of our inequality. In the $c\to\infty$ limit, with additional assumption of having a sparse spectrum below the scaling dimension $\frac{c}{12}+\varepsilon$ and below the twist $\frac{\alpha c}{12}$ (with $\alpha\in(0,1]$ fixed), our inequality implies that the grand-canonical free energy has universal large-c behavior in the maximal-validity domain, which does not encompass the entire mixed-temperature phase diagram, except in the case of $\alpha = 1$. In particular, we prove the conjecture proposed by Hartman, Keller and Stoica [1405.5137] (the $\alpha=1$ case): the free energy is universal in the large c limit for all $\beta_L\beta_R \neq 4\pi^2$.

Recent developments in the field of integrability include the discovery of higher-dimensional generalised Chern-Simons theories. These theories encode a linear system known as a Lax pair which underpins the integrability of the lower-dimensional theory. We will start with a generous review of these developments before presenting some extensions of this formalism. The applications of these extensions include: integrable deformations (a class of less-symmetric string backgrounds which are nonetheless integrable), stationary axisymmetric general relativity, and gauged WZW models.

Coset symmetry arises in many systems such as Higgs phases of gauge theories and quantum spin liquids. When the coset is quotient by a non-normal subgroup, coset symmetry becomes a non-invertible symmetry. I will discuss properties of coset non-invertible symmetry and its fractionalization using examples in field theories and lattice models, and comment on the dynamical implication. The talk is based on arXiv: 2405.20401 and work in progress with Ryohei Kobayashi and Carolyn Zhang

In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in a generalized notion of symmetry, obtained by relaxing the invertibility constraint and/or allowing symmetry operators to act on submanifolds rather than the full space. The mathematical structure underlying these generalized symmetries is provided by (higher) category theory, but it turns out that in the lattice setting, the abstract categorical formulation can be broken down to concrete tensor network operators that realize these generalized symmetries. In a certain sense, these tensor network operators provide the lattice representation theory of these generalized symmetries. As an application, I will explain how this representation theory provides a systematic, constructive theory for duality transformations on the lattice. Additionally, I will explain how dualities and generalized symmetries can be turned into unitary operators by including an ancillary degree of freedom, turning them into completely positive maps.

It has recently been recognized that various observables in different four-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories can be computed for an arbitrary 't Hooft coupling as determinants of certain semi-infinite matrices. It turns out that these quantities can be expressed as Fredholm determinants of the so-called Bessel kernel and they are closely related to celebrated Tracy-Widom distribution (more precisely, its finite temperature generalization) describing level-spacing distributions in matrix models. We exploit this relation to determine their dependence on the ’t Hooft coupling constant. Unlike the weak coupling expansion, which has a finite radius of convergence, the strong coupling expansion is factorially divergent, necessitating the inclusion of nonperturbative, exponentially small corrections. We develop a method to systematically compute these corrections and discuss the resurgent properties of the resulting transseries.

Predicting the outcome of scattering processes of elementary particles in colliders is the central achievement of relativistic quantum field theory applied to the fundamental (non-gravitational) interactions of nature. While the gravitational interactions are too minuscule to be observed in the microcosm, they dominate the interactions at large scales. As such the inspiral and merger of black holes and neutron stars in our universe are now routinely observed by gravitational wave detectors. The need for high precision theory predictions of the emitted gravitational waveforms has opened a new window for the application of perturbative quantum field theory techniques to the domain of gravity. In this talk I will show how observables in the classical scattering of black holes and neutron stars can be efficiently computed in a perturbative expansion using a world-line quantum field theory; thereby combining state-of-the-art Feynman integration technology with perturbative quantum gravity. Here, the black holes or neutron stars are modelled as point particles in an effective field theory sense. Fascinatingly, the intrinsic spin of the black holes may be captured by a supersymmetric extension of the world-line theory, enabling the computation of the far field wave-form including spin and tidal effects to highest precision. I will review our most recent results at the fifth order in the post-Minkowskian expansion amounting to the computations of tens of thousands of four loop Feynman integrals.

In a physical system with conformal symmetry, observables depend on cross-ratios, measures of distance invariant under global conformal transformations (conformal geometry for short). We identify a quantum information-theoretic mechanism by which the conformal geometry emerges at the gapless edge of a 2+1D quantum many-body system with a bulk energy gap. We introduce a novel pair of information-theoretic quantities (c,n) that can be defined locally on the edge from the wavefunction of the many-body system, without prior knowledge of any distance measure. We posit that, for a topological groundstate, the quantity c is stationary under arbitrary variations of the quantum state, and study the logical consequences. We show that stationarity, modulo an entanglement-based assumption about the bulk, implies (i) c is a non-negative constant that can be interpreted as the total central charge of the edge theory. (ii) n is a cross-ratio, obeying the full set of mathematical consistency rules, which further indicates the existence of a distance measure of the edge with global conformal invariance. Thus, the conformal geometry emerges from a simple assumption on groundstate entanglement. The stationarity of c is equivalent to a vector fixed-point equation involving n, making our assumption locally checkable. If time permits, we discuss a class of modular flow on a disk, which creates only edge excitations. We intuitively explain why Virasoro algebra can be revealed from a single wavefunction by analyzing such modular flows.

I'll discuss the exact non-invertible Kramers-Wannier symmetry of 1+1d lattice models on a tensor product Hilbert space of qubits. This symmetry mixes with lattice translations, and obeys a different algebra compared to the continuum one. The non-invertible symmetry leads to a constraint similar to that of Lieb-Schultz-Mattis, implying that the system cannot have a unique gapped ground state. It is either in a gapless phase or in a gapped phase with three (or a multiple of three) ground states, associated with the spontaneous breaking of the non-invertible symmetry.

In planar N=4 SYM, massless scattering amplitudes are dual to null polygonal Wilson loops (T-duality) or the same as the four-dimensional null limit of stress-tensor correlators. I will present a (conjectured) generalization of this duality which equates correlators of determinant operators, in a special ten-dimensional null limit, with massive scattering amplitudes in the Coulomb branch of N=4. This determinant operator is a generating function of all half-BPS single-traces operators. By taming it on twistor space I will show its correlators have ten dimensional poles which combine 4d space-time and 6d R-charge kinematics.

The discovery of gravitational waves has opened a new experimental window into the Universe. The fact that the relevant dynamics is often out of equilibrium offers a golden opportunity for holography to make a unique impact on cosmology and astrophysics. I will illustrate this with applications to cosmological phase transitions, to neutron star mergers and to the BKL dynamics near a cosmological singularity.

In this talk we use integrability data to bootstrap correlation functions of planar maximally supersymmetric Yang- Mills theory. Focusing on four-point correlation function of stress-tensor, we first introduce a set of sum rules that are only sensitive to single-traces in the OPE expansion (this is advantageous because this data is available from integrability). We then discuss how these sum rules can be employed in numerical bootstrap to nonperturbatively bound planar OPE coefficients. We show rigorous bounds for the OPE coefficient of the Konishi operator at various t’Hooft couplings outside the perturbative regime. The talk is based on an ongoing work and 2207.01615.

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In this talk we will discuss a new window into the solution of Heun differential equations arising in black hole perturbation theory using the tools of two-dimensional conformal field theory and gauge theories. Kerr Compton amplitudes for massless perturbation of generic spin-weight s, are written in compact form in terms of the so-called Nekrasov-Shatashvili functions; their symmetry properties are also discussed. These are then used as building blocks to study the scattering of two Kerr black holes with generic spin orientation. Comparison to conservative observables for bounded systems computed via first-order gravitational self-force methods are shown.

Next-generation gravitational-wave detectors, operating in lower frequency ranges, will explore new types of systems including fly-bys, captures, eccentric configurations and high spin, that are well described within a weak-field approximation. I will discuss our recent NLO waveform computation for black-hole scattering in the Post-Minkowskian approximation, including linear-in-spin corrections, following Ref. [2312.14859]. The result is obtained from five point one-loop scattering amplitudes including massive scalars, vectors and a graviton, and computations are performed in the numerical unitarity framework. Special emphasis is put on the treatment of the "cut term" in the observable-based approach of Kosower, Maybee and O’Connell. The result includes IR and UV divergences and I will explain their origin and their treatment to obtain a finite observable.

In this talk I will start by revisiting the calculation of entanglement entropy in free Maxwell theory in 3+1 dimensional Minkowski spacetime. I will characterize the soft sector associated with a subregion and demonstrate that conformally soft mode configurations at the entangling surface, or equivalently correlated fluctuations in the large gauge charges of the subregion and its complement, give a non-trivial contribution to the entanglement entropy across a cut of future null infinity. I will conclude with some comments on the holographic description of bulk subregions in asymptotically flat spacetimes.

Cosmological Correlators are one of the physical quantities that are of interest to cosmologists and are also of theoretical interest as they are related to CFT correlators via the AdS/CFT correspondence. These differ from the S-matrix as they are correlation functions computed on a given time slice. In this talk, I will review some progress in computing these in momentum space and also describe its relation to the S-matrix.

I will describe a construction relating the Vertex Operator Algebra (VOA) of a 4d N=2 superconformal field theory (SCFT) to the boundary VOA in 3d N=4 QFT, and to the VOA in 2d QFT. Besides unifying several known constructions, this also draws connections to many other interesting problems, among which are the novel rank-zero 3d N=4 SCFTs emerging in the high-temperature limit of a 4d SCFT "on the second sheet".

I will describe how to consider the flat space limit of scaterig in AdS relative to a point (where sacttering occurs). The kinematics is related to the Wigner-Inonu contraction. In particular, I will discuss how to take the proper limits of wave functions in AdS (times extra dimensions) to understand a notion of in states and out states and how a scattering amplitude should be conceived. This will make use of the embedding formalism, where the description of these wave functions is simple. I will show how these wave functions are related to other constructions in AdS/CFT and suggest how the Mellin parameters of these other setups arise from integral representations of the wave functions in terms of Schwinger parameters.