Supersymmetry and supergravity: a personal perspective

It is a pleasure to announce our Mathematical Physics Seminar next week. The seminar will be held in the Maths Colloquium 2pm spot (note venue is the Prentice Building) - details are:

Title: Supersymmetry and supergravity: a personal perspective

Speaker: Dr Gabriele Tartaglino-Mazzucchelli - Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bern, Switzerland

Gabriele's abtract 

In the first part of this seminar I will review some of the main applications and developments that supersymmetric field and supergravity theories have seen over the last decades. Besides possible phenomenological applications, supersymmetry has been one of the richest playgrounds for important developments in theoretical and mathematical physics including, among others: the construction of a possible consistent framework for quantum gravity; the non-perturbative analysis of gauge theories; the birth of holographic correspondences; the link with integrable models; and the relation with branches of geometry and mathematics. In this context, I will overview some of the main results that I obtained in the last decade in the mathematical formulation and study of supersymmetric field and supergravity theories in D=2,3,4,5,6 space-time dimensions. 

In the second half of the presentation I will focus on describing in some more detail my activity and interests during the last couple of years. These include: the construction for the first time of several higher-derivatives theories of supergravity; the analysis of extended de-Sitter supergravities possessing spontaneously broken supersymmetry (which have recently been used to formulate bottom-up approaches for inflation and dark energy); the study of models for quantum cosmology by using supersymmetric dS/CFT techniques. 

I will conclude reviewing some aspects of the so-called TTbar deformations of 2D Quantum Field Theories (that have recently attracted some attention in the study of string theory on AdS_3 backgrounds and also in the study of integrable systems) and, based on a work to appear, how supersymmetry is naturally preserved by these deformations.

Date: Monday, 22 October 2018 Time: 2:00pm–3:00pm

Venue: Prentice Building (42) Room: 115

We look forward to seeing you there! Afternoon tea in 69-704 will follow Gabriele’s seminar. (Gabriele will meet with CMP colleagues at the group’s regular 4pm Monday gathering.) Best regards, Associate Professor Yao-zhong Zhang Director, Centre for Mathematical Physics, SMP