UW Joint Mathematics-Physics
String Theory Seminar
(and related talks)

Next Talk

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Upcoming

Nothing scheduled at the moment.

Past Talks

• Wednesday, 4:15pm April 24, 2002,
  Padelford C-36
  Ron Donagi (University of Pennsylvania)
  Gerbes, genus 1 fibrations, and mirror symmetry
  
  • Abstract: The Fourier-Mukai transform is an equivalence between the derived categories of a pair of dual tori, or of families of dual tori with a section. It is often interpreted as the mathematical version of the physicists' T-duality. When the tori are elliptic curves (real dimension two, with a complex structure), it interchanges vector bundles with spectral data. When the tori are three-dimensional special Lagrangian in a Calabi-Yau threefold, this is conjectured to give mirror symmetry. Something amazing happens when this story is extended to genus 1 fibrations, or torus fibrations without a section: the Fourier-Mukai converts these into non-commutative geometries described by a gerbe on the underlying manifold. In fact, it interchanges the absence of a section (measured by the Tate-Shafarevich group) with non-commutativity (measured by the Brauer group). I will explain this phenomenon and discuss its implications for mirror symmetry.
• Wednesday, 4:00pm February 27, 2002,
  Padelford C-36
  Antonella Grassi (University of Pennsylvania)
  Geometry of large N-dualities
  
  
• Thursday, 4:00pm February 21, 2002,
  Padelford C-36
  Mina Aganagic (Harvard University)
  Geometry, Physics and Duality
  
  • Abstract
  
  
  
• Tuesday, 4:00pm February 19, 2002,
  PAB A110
  Mina Aganagic (Harvard University)
  Geometric Physics
  
  • Abstract: In string theory, there is a deep interplay between physics and geometry. This is not without precedent. For example, the relationship between classical gravity and Riemannian geometry is central to General Relativity. String theory, however, unifies gravity, quantum mechanics, and gauge theory, so the interaction is particularly rich and profound. My aim in this talk is to illustrate this.
  
  
  
• Friday, 4:00pm February 8, 2002,
  Thomson Hall 234
  Michael Thaddeus (Columbia University)
  Mirror symmetry and Langlands duality.
  
  • Abstract: Strominger, Yau, and Zaslow have proposed that a Calabi-Yau orbifold and its mirror should fiber over the same real orbifold, with special Lagrangian fibers which are tori dual to each other. We present some compelling evidence for this conjecture: a set of examples of hyperkahler orbifolds where the mirror can be explicitly constructed, and the equality of Hodge numbers predicted by mirror symmetry can be completely verified. The examples arise as moduli spaces of flat connections on a 4-torus with compact structure group; the mirror is the corresponding space with the Langlands dual structure group.
  
  
  
• Thursday, January 31
  4:00pm-5:00pm, Padelford C-36
  Eric Zaslow (Northwestern)
  Mirror Symmetry: Correspondence and Moduli
  
  ABSTRACT: I will give a tour of mirror symmetry, focussing on results stemming from equating moduli spaces of corresponding objects. These include the usual cast of characters: Gromov-Witten invariants; Lagrangians and holomorphic disks (Floer homology); and sheaves and holomorphic Chern-Simons theory. In addition, I will highlight some recent and future directions along these lines, involving M-theory and manifolds of G_2 holonomy. The lesson is that duality is an extremely strong assertion, whose consequences we should still vigorously pursue.
  
  
• Thursday, January 24
  4:00pm-5:00pm, Padelford C-36
  Calin-Iuliu Lazaroiu (SUNY Stony-Brook)
  D-brane categories and their relation with mirror symmetry
  
  
• Tuesday, January 22
  2:30-3:30pm, PAB C421
  Mina Aganagic
  D-branes, Geometry, and Duality
  
  
• Wednesday, November 7
  6:00pm-7:00pm, 210 Kane Hall
  Brian Greene (Columbia University)
  The Elegant Universe
  
  
• Monday, October 29
  1:30pm-2:30pm, PAB C421
  Steve Shenker (Stanford University)
  M Theory Signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background
  
  
• Monday, October 29
  4:00pm-5:00pm, PAB A102
  Steve Shenker (Stanford University)
  The quest for quantum gravity
  
  
• Tuesday, October 23
  1:30pm-2:30pm, Padelford C-36
  Dipankar Ray (Seattle)
  An Introduction to Mirror Symmetry for Mathematicians