Fri, 30 May 2025
14:30
L5

Minimal tension holography from a String theory in twistor space

Nathan McStay
(Cambridge )
Abstract

Explicit examples of the AdS/CFT correspondence where both bulk and boundary theories are tractable are hard to come by, but the minimal tension string on AdS_3 x S^3 x T^4  is one notable example. In this paper, we discuss how one can construct sigma models on twistor space, with a particular focus on applying these techniques to the aforementioned string theory. We derive novel incidence relations, which allow us to understand to what extent the minimal tension string encodes information about the bulk. We identify vertex operators in terms of bulk twistor variables and a map from twistor space to spacetime is presented. We also demonstrate the presence of a partially broken global supersymmetry algebra in the minimal tension string and we argue that this implies that there exists an N=2 formulation of the theory. The implications of this are studied and we demonstrate the presence of an additional constraint on physical states. This is based on work with Ron Reid-edwards https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.08836.

Thu, 12 Jun 2025

14:30 - 16:00
C1

"Eine grössere Harmonie zwischen Begriff und Bild": Eduard Study on mathematical freedom, language, and objectivity

Nicolas Michel
(Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge & Open University)
Abstract
German mathematician Eduard Study (1862-1930) was an outspoken critic of several emerging trends in modern mathematics at the turn of the century. Intuitionism, he argued, was in the process of eliminating the very notion of truth at the core of any serious scientific endeavour, whereas axiom-obsessed formalists engaged in a mere game of symbols, thereby losing sight of what really grants meaning and value to mathematical concepts. In rejecting both approaches, Study sought to maintain that mathematics was a science formed of freely-created concepts yet still possessed a specific form of objectivity, whose exploration crucially relied on the careful construction of symbolic languages.
 
To disentangle these claims, this talk will delve into Study's unpublished, philosophical essay on the foundations of analysis, and compare it to the mathematical practice espoused in his 1903 Geometrie der Dynamen, a landmark volume in the history of kinematics.

This week a neuroscientist and a mathematician talk about the challenges of collaboration. Here are Leo and Ramón:

The College Store, who sell our stash (including the new Oxford Mathematics Backpack below) are running a discount week (a ten-day week) from today - Friday 23rd May - to Sunday 1st June.

Welcome to the Week 4 Bulletin! See below for all relevant news and announcements.

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Born on this day: American mathematician Edward Norton Lorenz

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