Title: Lecture1: Classical and Quantum Time Crystals – Spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry

Speaker: Prof. S. D. Mahanti, Michigan State University and Adjunct Professor, IOP

Venue: IOP Lecture Hall

Date: 2017-Mar-06 16:00:00

Abstract: In recent years there have been a flurry of activity surrounding the ideas of time crystals where there is a spontaneous breaking of time translational symmetry. This has lead to the study of periodically driven quantum systems and the physics of Floquet-Bloch bands. In the latter context one can not only change the nature of topologically protected states but one can induce topological phase transitions by light. In these two lectures I will discuss what I have learnt about these ideas, reviewing some important papers and some experimental realizations.

Title: Supersymmetry on a Spacetime Lattice

Speaker: Anosh Joseph, ICTS

Venue: IoP Lecture Hall

Date: 2017-Mar-07 16:00:00

Abstract: The AdS/CFT correspondence or gauge theory-gravity correspondence is one of the most beautiful results that string theory has produced. This correspondence relates theories with gravity and theories without gravity through interesting dualities. In this talk I will describe how such dualities can be tested using Monte Carlo simulations of strongly coupled gauge theories known as supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. Supersymmetric gauge theories can be simulated on a computer by discretizing them on a Euclidean spacetime lattice and using suitable lattice QCD algorithms. I will review the current status of the Monte Carlo simulations of supersymmetric gauge theories, which includes interesting insights into black holes and quantum gravity.

Title: Lecture-2 Floquet Time Crystals – Periodically driven systems

Speaker: Prof. S. D. Mahanti, Michigan State University & Adjunct Professor, IOP

Venue: IOP Lecture Hall

Date: 2017-Mar-10 11:00:00

Abstract: In recent years there have been a flurry of activity surrounding the ideas of time crystals where there is a spontaneous breaking of time translational symmetry. This has lead to the study of periodically driven quantum systems and the physics of Floquet-Bloch bands. In the latter context one can not only change the nature of topologically protected states but one can induce topological phase transitions by light. In these two lectures I will discuss what I have learnt about these ideas, reviewing some important papers and some experimental realizations.