From Poisson’s Ratio to Cosmology

I will discuss how to place conformal boundary conditions on free higher derivative theories of scalars and spinors as well as the zoo of boundary renormalization group flows that connect the different boundary conditions.  Historically, there are connections to Poisson’s ratio and classical equations governing the bending of thin steel plates.  As these higher derivative theories are often invoked in the context of cosmology, there may be cosmological applications for the boundary conditions discussed here.