Past Courses: 2016/2017

Title: Scattering Amplitudes, Double Copy and Worldsheet Models of QFTs

Ricardo Monteiro

I will give an introduction to current topics in the study of scattering amplitudes of gauge theory and gravity. There will be four two-hour lectures, and the plan is as follows.

Lecture 1 will review basic modern techniques for scattering amplitudes, including recursion relations.

Lecture 2 will present an overview of the relations describing gravity as a double copy of gauge theory, both for scattering amplitudes and for solutions to the equations of motion.

Lecture 3 will introduce the formalism of the scattering equations, leading to the CHY formulas for amplitudes in theories of massless particles.

Lecture 4 will present new developments in computing field-theory amplitudes from string-theory-inspired techniques, via a new type of worldsheet model known as ambitwistor string. This leads to an extension of the scattering equations to loop level.

Schedule:
06/06/2017 10:00-12:00 G.O. Jones 610
07/06/2017 10:00-12:00 G.O. Jones 610
13/06/2017 10:30-12:30 G.O. Jones 610
14/06/2017 10:30-12:30 G.O. Jones 610

Title: Black holes and exotic branes in string theory

Masaki Shigemori

Lecture 1: String theory and branes: We will review the extended objects in string theory and the duality transformations relating them.

Lecture 2: Supergravity solutions: We will discuss the supergravity solutions representing various brane configurations and see how the duality transformations are manifested in them.

Lecture 3: Exotic branes: We will see that duality predicts various low-codimension objects called exotic branes, and discuss their peculiar properties.

Lecture 4: Black hole microstates and exotic branes: We will discuss supergravity representations of black hole microstates and the possible role played by exotic branes.

Schedule:
14/11/2016 14:00-16:00 G.O. Jones 610
15/11/2016 15:00-17:00 G.O. Jones 610
21/11/2016 14:00-16:00 G.O. Jones 610
22/11/2016 15:00-17:00 G.O. Jones 610