Colloquium
Speaker: Leonardo Rastelli
Title: Charting the space of quantum field theories
Host: Luty
Room: 432
Abstract: Quantum field theory (QFT) is the mathematical language of all of fundamental physics (bar gravity). Despite its tremendous success, the conventional framework of QFT (based on Lagrangians and Feynman diagrammatics) does not do justice to the beautiful underlying structure of the theory, hiding many symmetries and non-perturbative dualities. In this colloquium I will outline some recent advances that point towards deeper and more effective reformulations of QFT. I will emphasize the idea of theory space and the power of a more abstract algebraic viewpoint. I will give two (related) illustrations of these general principles: the modern bootstrap approach to conformal field theories, and the surprising dualities tied to the existence of a mysterious six- dimensional theory known as the (2, 0) theory.
