iTHEMS Theoretical Physics Seminar
76 events
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Seminar
Cosmic Birefringence: how our universe violates left-right symmetry
December 6 (Tue) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2022
Tomohiro Fujita (Assistant Professor, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University)
Our universe is lefty: recent observations imply that the polarization plane of light that has traveled through cosmic space for 13.8 billion years rotates about 0.3 degrees to the left. A similar phenomenon is known to occur in materials such as crystals, and is called birefringence. But why does birefringence occur even in the outer space, which is supposed to be a vacuum? Dark energy, the unknown energy that fills the universe, may be responsible for it. In this seminar, I will review observations and theories of cosmic birefringence and discuss future prospects.
Venue: Hybrid Format (Common Room 246-248 and Zoom)
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Tetra and pentaquarks with multi-flavor contents
November 22 (Tue) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2022
Atsushi Hosaka (Professor, Research Center for Nuclear Physics, Osaka University)
Recent hadron experiments keep providing evidences of exotic hadrons with multi-quark components. These multiquarks are self-arranged into various configurations such as diquarks, hadronic molecules and so on. In this seminar, we discuss possible structures of tetra and pentaquarks with multi-flavor contents including recently observed T_cc, Pc and P_cs. Based on our recent studies in the quark model and hadron models, we discuss where and how different quark structures emerge.
Venue: Hybrid Format (Common Room 246-248 and Zoom)
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Merger and post-merger of binary neutron stars with a quark-hadron crossover equation of state
November 15 (Tue) at 15:00 - 17:01, 2022
Yongjia Huang (Ph.D. Student, University of Science and Technology of China, China)
The state of the ultra-dense matter remains one of the long-standing open questions. Neutron star (NS), as it cools down the eons ahead after the birth in the supernova explosion, provides an astrophysical laboratory to investigate the dense, strongly interacting nuclear matter at zero temperature. On the other hand, the most intense gravitational wave(GW) radiation is produced in regions of the strong gravitational field by coherent movements of masses with large compactness. Therefore, GW from binary neutron star(BNS) merger naturally contains the information from the ultra-dense matter. In this talk, I will introduce our recent work, "Merger and post-merger of binary neutron stars with a quark-hadron crossover equation of state ."Quark-hadron crossover(QHC) is one way of hadron-quark transition, which generally predicts a peak in sound speed vs. density, and so releases more pressure during the hadron-quark transition. I will first briefly summarize the features of QHC EOS and the BNS merger. I will then focus on how information on the hadron-quark transition shows in the GW and its spectrum during the BNS merger.
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Expanding Edges of Quantum Hall Systems in a Cosmology Language - Hawking Radiation from de Sitter Horizon in Edge Modes
November 11 (Fri) at 16:00 - 17:30, 2022
Masahiro Hotta (Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University)
Expanding edge experiments are promising to open new physics windows of quantum Hall systems. In a static edge, the edge excitation, which is described by free fields decoupled with the bulk dynamics, is gapless, and the dynamics preserve conformal symmetry. When the edge expands, such properties need not be preserved. We formulate a quantum field theory in 1+1 dimensional curved spacetimes to analyze the edge dynamics. We propose methods to address the following questions using edge waveforms from the expanding region: Does the conformal symmetry survive? Is the nonlinear interaction of the edge excitations induced by edge expansion? Do the edge excitations interact with the bulk excitations? We additionally show that the expanding edges can be regarded as expanding universe simulators of two-dimensional dilaton-gravity models, including the Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity model. As an application, we point out that our theoretical setup might simulate emission of analog Hawking radiation with the Gibbons-Hawking temperature from the future de Sitter horizon formed in the expanding edge region.
Venue: #345-347, 3F, Main Research Building (Main Venue) / via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Tensor renormalization group approach to quantum fields on a lattice
November 8 (Tue) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2022
Shinichiro Akiyama (Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, Quantum Software Project, The University of Tokyo)
Tensor renormalization group (TRG) approach is a variant of the real-space renormalization group to evaluate the path integral defined on the thermodynamic lattice, without resorting to any probabilistic interpretation for the given Boltzmann weight. Moreover, since the TRG can directly deal with the Grassmann variables, this approach can be formulated in the same manner for the systems with bosons, fermions, or both. These advantages of the TRG approach have been confirmed by the earlier studies of various lattice theories, which suggest that the TRG enables us to investigate the parameter regimes where it is difficult to access with the standard stochastic numerical methods, such as the Monte Carlo simulation. In this talk, explaining our recent applications of the TRG approach to several lattice models, we demonstrate the efficiency of the TRG as a tool to investigate lattice theories particularly in higher dimensions and future perspective.
Venue: Hybrid Format (Common Room 246-248 and Zoom)
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Ultra-Light Axion Dark Matter: Bose-Einstein condensates and superfluids in the sky
October 11 (Tue) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2022
Elisa G.M. Ferreira (Project Assistant Professor, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU), The University of Tokyo)
The nature of dark matter (DM) is one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology. There are many different models to explain the nature of this elusive component. In this talk I will present a class of dark matter models: ultra-light dark matter (ULDM) or ultra-light axions (ULA). I will show the different models present in the literature and classify them according to the way they behave on small scales. One of the most interesting features of this class of DM models is that it might condense in the interior of the halos of galaxies forming a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) or superfluid. This interesting quantum phenomena on macroscopic scales, and the wave nature of ULDM leads to different and interesting astrophysical consequences that can be probed on small scales. I will quickly review first the fuzzy dark matter model, one of the most well studied ULA models, where I will present its description, predictions and current bounds. Then I will introduce the DM superfluid model, where, upon condensation in the interior of galaxies, DM dynamics represents that of MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) on galactic scales. This behaviour can address some of the curiosities of the behaviour of DM on small scales. I plan to show the theoretical description of this model and its interesting phenomenology.
Venue: Hybrid Format (Common Room 246-248 and Zoom)
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Test of the Cosmological principle by observing the primordial gravitational waves
July 27 (Wed) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2022
Yuko Urakawa (Associate Professor, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK))
In this talk, using the generalized deltaN formalism, which dramatically facilitates a computation of the primordial density perturbation and the primordial GWs (PGWs), we address a violation of the Cosmological principle, namely a violation of the global isotropy in the Universe. It’s turned out that measuring the PGWs provides a powerful tool to explore a violation of the global isotropy. If time permits, I will also discuss some prospects on LiteBIRD.
Venue: Hybrid Format (Common Room 246-248 and Zoom)
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Gradient flow exact renormalization group 2
July 6 (Wed) at 13:30 - 17:00, 2022
Hiroshi Suzuki (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Kyushu University)
Wilson’s exact renormalization group (ERG), which tells how a system changes under the scale transformation, provides a fundamental framework to define quantum field theory even beyond the perturbation theory. It has however been known that it is difficult to preserve a manifest gauge symmetry in ERG because of the usage of the momentum cutoff in ERG. Here, we propose a possible modification of ERG, the gradient flow exact renormalization (GFERG), which preserves a manifest gauge symmetry being based on a gauge-covariant diffusion equation. I explain the basic idea and properties of GFERG. If time permits, I want to present a possible application of GFERG to the consideration of the axial anomaly.
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Gradient flow exact renormalization group 1
July 5 (Tue) at 13:30 - 17:00, 2022
Hiroshi Suzuki (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Kyushu University)
Wilson’s exact renormalization group (ERG), which tells how a system changes under the scale transformation, provides a fundamental framework to define quantum field theory even beyond the perturbation theory. It has however been known that it is difficult to preserve a manifest gauge symmetry in ERG because of the usage of the momentum cutoff in ERG. Here, we propose a possible modification of ERG, the gradient flow exact renormalization (GFERG), which preserves a manifest gauge symmetry being based on a gauge-covariant diffusion equation. I explain the basic idea and properties of GFERG. If time permits, I want to present a possible application of GFERG to the consideration of the axial anomaly.
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Dress code for infrared safe S-matrix in QED
June 22 (Wed) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2022
Sotaro Sugishita (Designated Assistant Professor, Institute for Advanced Research (IAR), Nagoya University)
We consider the infrared (IR) aspects of the gauge invariant S-matrix in QED. I will review the problem of IR divergences in QED, and introduce the dressed state formalism to obtain IR-safe S-matrix elements. I will show a condition for dressed states to obtain IR-safe S-matrix elements, and explain that this condition can be interpreted as the memory effect and is related to asymptotic symmetry. I also explain that IR divergences are necessary to prohibit the violation of asymptotic symmetry. We also argue that the difference between dressed and undressed states can be observed, even if we are able to observe an inclusive cross-section summing over soft photons.
Venue: Hybrid Format (Common Room 246-248 and Zoom)
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Is the Standard Model in the Swampland? Consistency Requirements from Gravitational Scattering
November 2 (Tue) at 14:30 - 16:00, 2021
Katsuki Aoki (Research Assistant Professor, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University)
Underlying assumptions on ultraviolet completion can impose constraints on its low-energy effective field theories (EFTs). The swampland program aims to clarify consistent and inconsistent EFTs with quantum gravity and aims to understand quantum gravity from low-energy physics and vice versa. One of the most well-established constraints is called positivity bounds, provided that general assumptions such as Poincare invariance and unitarity are satisfied at all scales. I will first explain how these consistency conditions arise especially in the presence of gravity. I will then show that the positivity bound is violated if the Standard Model of particle physics coupled to General Relativity is extrapolated up to 10^16 GeV, requiring new physics there or below. The precise value of the cutoff is determined by hadronic physic while it is insensitive from non-gravitational physics beyond the Standard Model. This is a signal from established physics for the necessity of quantum gravity below 10^16 GeV.
Venue: Hybrid Format (Common Room 246-248 and Zoom)
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
S-matrix Unitarity toward UV Completion
September 13 (Mon) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2021
Keisuke Izumi (Assistant Professor, Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute for the Origin of Particles and the Universe (KMI), Nagoya University)
Einstein gravity is not renormalizable and does not hold perturbative unitarity at high energy. This is the main reason why the construction of quantum gravity is difficult. A conjecture was proposed by Llewellyn Smith, "renormalizablility and tree-unitarity at high energy give the same conditions for theories". This conjecture would be important because it shows that, if a theory is constructed s.t. unitarity is satisfied, renormalizablility holds automatically, and vice versa. Unfortunately, a counterexample was pointed out. If a theory involves higher derivatives, there exists a theory which is renormalizable but does not satisfy tree-unitarity. A candidate of quantum gravity, the quadratic gravity (R_{\mu\nu}^2 gravity), is one of the examples. Therefore, Llewellyn Smith's conjecture would not be useful for the discussion of quantum gravity. Then, we introduce a new conjecture, "renormalizablility and S-matrix unitarity (or often called pseudo-unitarity) at high energy give the same conditions for theories". In this talk, Llewellyn Smith's conjecture and our contribution to it will be explained. Then, our new conjecture will be introduced. Finally, it will be shown that our conjecture works well even in theories with higher derivatives.
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Application of AdS/CFT to non-equilibrium phenomena in external electric fields
August 16 (Mon) at 13:00 - 15:00, 2021
Shunichiro Kinoshita (Collaborative Researcher, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University)
The AdS/CFT correspondence is a useful tool for studying strongly-coupled gauge theories. According to this correspondence, the D3/D7 brane system in string theory is one of the simplest toy model dual to supersymmetric QCD-like gauge theory. In the dual field theory, the mesons, i.e., the quark-antiquark bound states are stable in vacuum when the quark is massive, while the dielectric breakdown occurs by pair production of quark-antiquark under strong electric fields. In this talk, I will review a series of our works of D3/D7 systems and show time-dependent, non-equilibrium phenomena driven by external electric fields such as suddenly increasing or rotating electric fields.
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Non-Unitary TQFTs from 3d N=4 Rank-0 SCFTs
July 5 (Mon) at 13:00 - 14:30, 2021
Myungbo Shim (Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea)
We propose a novel procedure of assigning a pair of non-unitary topological quantum field theories (TQFTs), TFT_\pm[T_0], to a (2+1)D interacting N=4 superconformal field theory (SCFT) T_0 of rank 0, i.e. having no Coulomb and Higgs branches. The topological theories arise from particular degenerate limits of the SCFT. Modular data of the non-unitary TQFTs are extracted from the supersymmetric partition functions in the degenerate limits. As a non-trivial dictionary, we propose that F = max{ -log |S^{(+)}_{0\alpha}| } = max{ -log |S^{(-)}_{0\alpha}| }, where F is the round three-sphere free energy of T_0 and S^{(\pm)}_{0\alpha} is the first column in the modular S-matrix of TFT_\pm. From the dictionary, we derive the lower bound on F, F > -log(\sqrt{(5-\sqrt{5})/10}) \simeq 0.642965, which holds for any rank 0 SCFT. The bound is saturated by the minimal N=4 SCFT proposed by Gang-Yamazaki, whose associated topological theories are both the Lee-Yang TQFT. We explicitly work out the (rank 0 SCFT)/(non-unitary TQFTs) correspondence for infinitely many examples. Before going to the technical part, we provide some background materials including some peculiar features in 3d gauge theories, some supersymmetries, anyons, and some modular data of MTC in this talk.
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Toward QCD-based description of dense baryonic matter
June 29 (Tue) at 13:00 - 14:30, 2021
Yuki Fujimoto (Postdoctoral Scholars, Department of Physics, University of Washington, USA)
The equation of state (EoS) of dense baryonic/quark matter is the crucial ingredient for understanding neutron stars. I briefly review the current state of the high-density matter EoS based on the QCD perspectives. In this talk, I particularly focus on the perturbative QCD (pQCD) EoS, which was previously thought to be useless at realistic density because it is plagued by the large uncertainty. I introduce our recent analysis of the EoS calculated within the pQCD framework with the resummation [Fujimoto & Fukushima, 2011.10891]. I discuss our scheme for the Hard Dense Loop resummation, which turns out to reduce the uncertainty compared with the conventional pQCD estimate without resummation. Our result apparently extends the applicability of the QCD-based EoS down to densities realized inside neutron stars and infers a smooth matching with the baryonic EoS.
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
Black Hole Information Paradox and Wormholes
June 21 (Mon) at 13:00 - 14:30, 2021
Kanato Goto (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS)
In this talk, I will explain about the recent progress in the black hole information paradox that I am involved with. The information paradox arises when a black hole evaporates by emitting Hawking radiation due to the quantum effects. Time dependence of the entropy of Hawking radiation is diagnosis of information loss caused by the black hole evaporation. If information is not lost, the entropy of Hawking radiation should obey the so-called Page curve. In recent research developments, it was found that “the quantum extremal islands” reproduce the unitary Page curve in an evaporating black hole. I will argue about how the quantum extremal islands are derived from the computation of the entropy of Hawking radiation using the gravitational path-integral.
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
iTHEMS-phys Intro Meeting on June 7, 2021
June 7 (Mon) at 13:00 - 14:30, 2021
Tomoya Naito (Ph.D. Student, Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo)
Takeru Yokota (Postdoctoral Researcher, The Institute for Solid State Physics (ISSP), The University of Tokyo)
Naomi Tsuji (Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS)13:00-13:20 [JST] Tomoya Naito 13:20-13:40 [JST] Takeru Yokota 13:40-14:00 [JST] Naomi Tsuji 14:00- Free discussion
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
iTHEMS-phys Intro Meeting on June 1, 2021
June 1 (Tue) at 13:00 - 15:00, 2021
Kengo Kikuchi (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS)
Enrico Rinaldi (Research Fellow, Physics Department, University of Michigan, USA)
Hiroshi Yokota (Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS)13:00-13:20 [JST] Kengo Kikuchi 13:20-13:40 [JST] Enrico Rinaldi 13:40-14:00 [JST] Hiroshi Yokota 14:00- Free discussion
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
iTHEMS-phys Intro Meeting on May 31, 2021
May 31 (Mon) at 13:00 - 15:00, 2021
Ryo Namba (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS)
Naritaka Oshita (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS)
Yuki Yokokura (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS)
Shigehiro Nagataki (Deputy Program Director, iTHEMS)13:00-13:20 [JST] Ryo Namba 13:20-13:40 [JST] Naritaka Oshita (10 mins break) 13:50-14:10 [JST] Yuki Yokokura 14:10-14:30 [JST] Shigehiro Nagataki 14:30- Free discussion
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
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Seminar
iTHEMS-phys Intro Meeting on May 25, 2021
May 25 (Tue) at 13:00 - 15:00, 2021
Takuya Sugiura (Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS)
Takumi Doi (Senior Research Scientist, Quantum Hadron Physics Laboratory, RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science (RNC))
Shoichiro Tsutsui (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, Quantum Hadron Physics Laboratory, RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science (RNC))
Kanato Goto (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS)13:00-13:20 [JST] Takuya Sugiura 13:20-13:40 [JST] Takumi Doi (10 mins break) 13:50-14:10 [JST] Schoichiro Tsutsui 14:10-14:30 [JST] Kanato Goto 14:30- Free discussion
Venue: via Zoom
Event Official Language: English
76 events