Dr. F.C. Kohli Centre of Excellence

Perspectives in Mathematical Sciences

January 10–February 4, 2022

Tuesday, 1 February 2022, 19:30 IST

Rajesh Gopkumar, International Centre for Theoretical Studies (ICTS), Bangalore

Title Deriving Gauge-String Duality (Video Recording)

Abstract

Gauge (or Yang-Mills) theories are the building blocks of our current physical understanding of the universe. In parallel, string theory is a framework for a consistent quantum description of gravity. Gauge-String duality a.k.a. the AdS/CFT correspondence is a remarkable connection between these two very different classes of theories. This has, in fact, been one of the main engines driving progress in theoretical physics over the last two decades. I will begin by discussing why it is important to arrive at a first principles understanding of the underlying mechanism of this duality relating quantum field theories and string theories (or other theories of gravity). I will then proceed to discuss a very general approach which aims to relate large N QFTs and string theories, starting from free field theories. This corresponds to a tensionless limit of the dual string theory on AdS spacetime. Finally, I will discuss specific cases of this limit for AdS_3/CFT_2 and AdS_5/CFT_4, where one has begun to carry this program through to fruition, going from the string theory to the field theory and vice versa.

About the speaker

Rajesh Gopakumar did his undergraduate degree in Physics from IIT-Kanpur and went on to do his Ph.D. at Princeton University. After being a research associate at Harvard University he moved to Harish-Chandra Research Institute in 2001 as Associate Professor and then Professor. He was also a visiting long-term member at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton from 2001-2004. He is presently the Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Studies in Bangalore. He is the recipient of the ICTP Prize - in honour of G. C. Wick (2006), the S.S. Bhatnagar Award (2009), the Swarnajayanthi Fellowship (2006), the J. C. Bose Fellowship (2015), the G. D. Birla Prize (2013) and the TWAS Prize in the Physical Sciences (2013). He is also a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India. He was elected fellow of the The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in 2015. He is a founding member (now alumnus) of the Global Young Academy (GYA).