The theoretical high energy and cosmology group will be hosting this years edition of the IGST conference, IGST 2018, where IGST stands for Integrability in Gauge and String Theory. More details can be found on the conference home-page: https://indico.nbi.ku.dk/event/1050/
Systems which are integrable, i.e. exactly solvable play a distinguished role in theoretical physics. Every physicist knows the harmonic oscillator, whether classical or quantum mechanical, and the hydrogen atom but integrability extends far beyond first and second year physics.
In theoretical high energy physics one has traditionally had two competing schools describing the fundamental constituents of matter, one school advocating string theory and the other one advocating particle theory or quantum field theory.
A novel view on theories for the fundamental constituents of matter was born when Maldacena formulated his famous conjecture that in certain situations where particular symmetries are present the particle and string descriptions can co-exist and simply constitute two faces of the same coin. Particles should be viewed as holographic projections of strings living in higher dimensions.
The IGST research field was born when it was realized (little by little) that the particle/string system involved in Maldacena’s conjecture constituted an integrable system. Applying the tools of integrability to the particle/string system has led to enormous progress in the understanding of both quantum field theory and string theory where regions of parameter space which were earlier considered inaccessible have been fully chartered. Furthermore, the IGST research field have had important implications for condensed matter physics through the discovery of novel long-range spin chains along with tools for their solution. There has also been important cross-fertilization between IGST and mathematics not least via the study of concepts such as Yangian symmetries and Grassmanians.
IGST 2018 is dedicated to the presentation of the most recent developments along these lines with special emphasis on, but not limited to, holographic set-ups. Topics to be covered include integrability in relation to correlation functions and Wilson loops in supersymmetric gauge theories, the conformal bootstrap program, scattering amplitudes, entanglement entropy, tensor models, defect conformal field theories and much more.
The conference is expected to have 140 participants and will take place in the period Aug. 20-24.
We are happy to announce that Juan Maldacena from IAS, Princeton is one of the speakers of the conference.
Among the other speakers are L.F. Alday (Oxford University), Niklas Beisert (ETH, Zürich), Jacob Bourjaily (NBI), Simon Caron-Huot (McGill), Kevin Costello (Perimeter Institute), Simone Giombi (Princeton University), Vladimir Kazakov (ENS, Paris), Leonardo Rastelli (Stony Brook) and Konstantin Zarembo (NORDITA & NBI).
The conference will take place in the Auditorium A1-01.01 in the Faculty of Life Sciences of Copenhagen University (Festauditoriet) , Bülowsvej 17, 1870 Frederiksberg C, see map >>
The local organizers are Marco Bianchi, Troels Harmark, Charlotte Kristjansen, Kasper Vardinghus and Matthias Wilhelm.
The international advisory committee consists of Romuald Janik (Jagellonian University, Poland, Didina Serban (IPhT, Saclay), Matthias Staudacher (Humboldt University), Arkady Tseytlin (Imperial College) and Pedro Vieira (Perimeter Institute).
More details can be found on the conference homepage: https://indico.nbi.ku.dk/event/1050/
The conference is made possible by a Sapere Aude Top Researcher Grant from DFF-FNU awarded to Charlotte Fløe Kristjansen.
