Mathematical Physics

From the Adinkras of Supersymmetry to the Music of Arnold Schoenberg

Speaker: 
Jim Gates
Date: 
Thu, May 29, 2014
Location: 
PIMS, University of British Columbia
Conference: 
PIMS Public Seminar
PIMS Undergraduate Workshop on Supersymmetry
Abstract: 

The concept of supersymmetry, though never observed in Nature, has been one of the primary drivers of investigations in theoretical physics for several decades. Through all of this time, there have remained questions that are unsolved. This presentation will describe how looking at such questions one can be led to the 'Dodecaphony Technique'  of Austrian composer Schoenberg.

 

Jim Gates is a theoretical physicist known for work on supersymmetry, supergravity and superstring theory. He is currently a Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, a University of Maryland Regents Professor and serves on President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Gates was nominated by the US Department of Energy to present his work and career to middle and high school students in October 2010. He is on the board of trustees of Society for Science & the Public, he was a Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Scholar at MIT (2010-11) and was a Residential Scholar at MIT’s Simmons Hall. On February 1, 2013, Gates received the National Medal of Science.

Class: 
Scientific
Subject: 
Mathematics
Mathematical Physics
Particle Physics and Quantum Field Theory
Physics

Gauge Theory and Khovanov Homology

Speaker: 
Edward Witten
Date: 
Sat, Feb 18, 2012
Location: 
PIMS, University of Washington
Abstract: 

After reviewing ordinary finite-dimensional Morse theory, I will explain how Morse generalized Morse theory to loop spaces, and how Floer generalized it to gauge theory on a three-manifold. Then I will describe an analog of Floer cohomology with the gauge group taken to be a complex Lie group (rather than a compact group as assumed by Floer), and how this is expected to be related to the Jones polynomial of knots and Khovanov homology.

Class: 
Scientific
Subject: 
Mathematics
Differential Geometry and Geometric Analysis
Topology
Physics
Mathematical Physics
Particle Physics and Quantum Field Theory

A Functional Integral Representation for Many Boson Systems

Speaker: 
Joel Feldman
Date: 
Fri, Oct 5, 2007 to Sat, Oct 6, 2007
Location: 
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Conference: 
CRM-Fields-PIMS Prize Lecture
Abstract: 

This is the 2007 CRM-Fields-PIMS prize lecture by Joel Feldman, with citation by David Brydges.

Class: 
Scientific
Subject: 
Functional Analysis
Mathematical Physics
Particle Physics and Quantum Field Theory

Introduction to Marsden & Symmetry

Speaker: 
Alan Weinstein
Date: 
Wed, Jul 20, 2011
Location: 
Vancouver Convention Center, BC, Canada
Conference: 
ICIAM 2011
Abstract: 

Alan Weinstein is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a colleague of Jerry Marsden throughout Jerry’s career at Berkeley, and their joint papers on “Reduction of symplectic manifolds with symmetry” and “The Hamiltonian structure of the Maxwell-Vlasov equations” were fundamental contributions to geometric mechanics.

Class: 
Scientific
Subject: 
Differential Geometry and Geometric Analysis
Applied Mathematics
Mathematical Physics

Self-Interacting Walk and Functional Integration

Author: 
David Brydges
Date: 
Thu, Sep 14, 2000
Location: 
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Conference: 
PIMS Distinguished Chair Lectures
Abstract: 
These lectures are directed at analysts who are interested in learning some of the standard tools of theoretical physics, including functional integrals, the Feynman expansion, supersymmetry and the Renormalization Group. These lectures are centered on the problem of determining the asymptotics of the end-to-end distance of a self-avoiding walk on a $D$-dimensional simple cubic lattice as the number of steps grows. When $D=4$ the end-to-end distance has been conjectured to grow as Const. $n^{1/2}\log^{1/8}n,$ where $n$ is the number of steps. We include a theorem, obtained in joint work with John Imbrie, that validates the $D=4$ conjecture in the simplified setting known as the ``Hierarchial Lattice.''
Notes: 
PDF icon Brydges.pdf
Class: 
Scientific
Subject: 
Mathematical Physics
Probability