Infosys-ICTS String Theory Lectures Aspect of De Sitter Space Speaker: Dionysios Anninos (King's College London, United Kingdom) Date : 29 October 2018 to 01 November 2018 Venue: Madhava Lecture Hall, ICTS campus We overview some aspects of asymptotically de Sitter spacetimes at the classical and quantum level. We discuss some features of the late time de Sitter wavefunction. We briefly touch upon properties of the relation between de Sitter space and Euclidean conformal theories, broadly referred to as the dS/CFT correspondence. We discuss in some detail a concrete example with a bulk Vasiliev theory containing an infinite tower of interacting massless gauge higher spin fields. Finally, time permitting, we will discuss some similarities and differences between the cosmological dS horizon and a more standard black hole horizon.

Program Integrable​ ​systems​ ​in​ ​Mathematics,​ ​Condensed​ ​Matter​ ​and​ ​Statistical​ ​Physics 16 July 2018 to 10 August 2018 Ramanujan Lecture Hall, ICTS Bangalore This program aims to address various aspects of integrability and its role in the advancement of...

J-Holomorphic Curves and Gromov-Witten Invariants DATE: 25 December 2017 to 04 January 2018 VENUE: Madhava Lecture Hall, ICTS, Bangalore Holomorphic curves are a central object of study in complex algebraic geometry. Such curves are meaningful even when the target has an almost complex structure. The moduli space of these curves (called pesudoholomorphic curves) is typically non-compact and not well-behaved. A nice compactification, due to Gromov, allows us to define certain invariants known as Gromov-Witten invariants. The theory of Gromov-Witten invariants can be used to deform the usual cohomology ring structure of a symplectic manifold. This has connections, on the one hand, with enumerative geometry, and on the other hand, with deformation of associative algebras and topological quantum field theory. Gromov-Witten invariants have deep connections with physics through the ideas of Mirror Symmetry. Using String Theory, physicists have made amazing predictions about the Gromov-Witten invariants of the quintic threefold. From a mathematical point of view, a large number of predictions are still open. The study of pseudoholomorphic mappings (with Lagrangian boundary conditions) of Riemann surfaces with boundaries (disks, cylinders, pairs of pants) have turned out to be immensely powerful as a tool and have yielded great results. The original theory of Floer has been extended to study Floer homology of a non-compact symplectic manifold. The invariants arising from Floer theory of cotangent bundle have deep and surprising connections to the algebraic structures present in the free loop space of the ambient manifold. In this program, several international experts will deliver series of 3 to 4 lectures on their work. To be more easily accessible to the participants, the lecture series by experts are being planned so that they start with simple introduction and gently build up, leading to open questions in their area of expertise. The topics of these lectures are interconnected and will often use the theory of pseudoholomorphic curves as their foundation. There will be 4 lectures each day for a total duration of about 5 hours. Informal lectures / discussions sessions in the evening, complementing the actual lectures, are also being planned for the benefit of the participants. A preparatory school at NISER in July 2017 is separately being planned to acquaint interested participants with this subject and help them get the most out of the discussion meeting at ICTS. This is the link for the preparatory summer school at NISER. APPLICATION DEADLINE 08 November 2017 CONTACT US jhgw2017 ictsresin PROGRAM LINK https://www.icts.res.in/program/JhGW2017

Large deviation theory in statistical physics: Recent advances and future challenges DATE: 14 August 2017 to 13 October 2017 VENUE: Madhava Lecture Hall, ICTS, Bengaluru Large deviation theory made its way into statistical physics as a mathematical framework for studying equilibrium systems, and is now increasingly used for studying nonequilibrium systems driven in steady states, quantum many-body systems, and disordered systems. Major breakthroughs in understanding these systems have resulted recently from using this theory and are establishing it as an integral part of theoretical statistical physics. In parallel, mathematicians have considerably developed this theory and applied it to a variety of situations and are now also actively working on numerical methods for simulating large deviations, often with a direct motivation to study physical systems. The aim of this program is to bring together physicists and mathematicians working on large deviations to share their recent results, to engage in new collaborations, and to make progress on fundamental problems in statistical physics. The program will focus on three themes, which drive a large part of the research currently done in this field and in large deviation theory: Nonequilibrium large deviations: Long-time and low-noise large deviations, escape problems, interacting particle models, fluctuation relations, macroscopic fluctuation theory, stochastic PDEs. New frontiers of large deviation applications: Disordered systems, polymers, glassy systems, random matrices, quantum systems, random walks on graphs, complex networks, active matter, applications in biology. Large deviation simulations: Cloning and splitting methods, importance sampling, free energy calculations, transition path sampling, action minimization and adaptive control methods. The program will consist of short lectures by invited participants in the first half of each day, with the rest of the time available for discussions. There will also be some pedagogic lectures on a few advanced topics. Special lecture series: Entropy and large deviation theory based on entropy as a tool in the study of non-equilibrium dynamics of large systems with conserved quantities - S .R. S. Varadhan Fluctuations and large deviations in nonequilibrium systems - B. Derrida Large deviations in statistical physics - Hugo Touchette Macroscopic fluctuation theory - Kirone Mallick Random Matrix theory - Satya Majumdar Large deviations for the Wiener Sausage - Frank den Hollander Numerical approaches - Tony Lelievre Large deviations in the context of heavy tails - Parthanil Roy *Due to some unforeseen circumstances Prof. Srinivasa Varadhan will not be able to deliver the Srinivasa Ramanujan lecture series, therefore the lecture series stands cancelled CONTACT US: ldt@icts.res.in PROGRAM LINK: https://www.icts.res.in/program/ldt2017

https://www.icts.res.in/program/LPA2017