Found 2 result(s)

03.12.2024 (Tuesday)

When are two quantum field theories related by topological manipulations?

Regular Seminar Brandon Rayhaun (Stony Brook)

at:
15:00 QMUL
room GO Jones 610
abstract:

Topological manipulations, like gauging a finite symmetry, produce new quantum field theories from known ones. It is natural to ask how effective they are at moving one around theory space. I will sketch an appealing conjectural answer to this question in the context of 2d rational conformal field theories, which leverages ideas and techniques from 3d topological field theory. I will then present a variety of partial results in the direction of this conjecture, and physically motivate the discussion by situating it in broader quantum field theory lore.

02.05.2023 (Tuesday)

Small Bosonic CFTs, Chiral Fermionization, and Symmetry/Subalgebra Duality

Exceptional Seminar Brandon Rayhaun (Simons Center for Geometry and Physics)

at:
15:30 QMUL
room GO Jones 610
abstract:

Conformal field theories in (1+1)D are key actors in many dramas in physics and mathematics. Their classification has therefore been an important and long-standing problem. In this talk, I will describe the main ideas behind the classification of (most) "small" bosonic CFTs - theories with low central charge (less than 24) and few primary operators (less than 5). I will then highlight two applications of this result. First, I will describe how it can be used in tandem with bosonization and fermionization techniques to establish the classification of chiral fermionic CFTs with central charge less than 23. Second, I will showcase how it can be used to bootstrap the generalized global symmetries of chiral bosonic CFTs. Talk based on arXiv:2208.05486 [hep-th] (joint work with Sunil Mukhi) and arXiv:2303.16921 [hep-th].