Scattering in Quantum Gravity and the Conformal Bootstrap

Scattering in Quantum Gravity and the Conformal Bootstrap
Eric Perlmutter, Princeton University
Date and time: Thu, Feb 16, 2017 - 4:00pm
Location: LGRT 419B
Category: ACFI Seminar
Abstract:
The AdS/CFT Correspondence gives a profound perspective on theories of quantum gravity, by mapping them to quantum field theories living in one fewer dimension. Among the most fundamental observables in gravity are scattering amplitudes, which are equivalent to correlation functions in the dual field theory. I will describe new approaches to computing these quantities using both gravitational and field theoretic techniques. In gravity, I will introduce conceptually simple, geometric computations of tree-level scattering, including near black holes; in field theory, I will use the equations of the conformal bootstrap – a research program that aims to delineate the space of consistent conformal field theories solely using abstract symmetry principles – to derive correlation functions that are dual to loop amplitudes in gravity. These results underscore the harmony between emergent structures in quantum gravity and the dynamics of conformal field theories with many degrees of freedom.