Phymaths podcast

DescriptionDr. Christian Ferko is a theoretical physicist at Northeastern University and IAIFI. He primarily works on sigma models and machine learning (especially on the correspondence between neural networks and QFTs). His work can be found at the link below.Some links1) His works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/18380252) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/Contact InfoMy website: hassaansaleem.comFollow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1XFollow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHYEmail Queries: [email protected]Time stamps(0:00) Intro of the guest(0:20) Neural Networks/QFT (NN/QFT) correspondence(1:54) Getting gauge theory(4:07) Adding spinors(6:45) RG scale in Neural Networks (NNs)(9:20) Activation functions(14:40) Other architectures(16:01) Adding interactions(18:05) Anomalies in NNs(23:50) T duality in NNs(30:16) Discrete θ angles in NNs(33:21) Entanglement in NNs(35:41) NNs and Holography(39:45) NNs and generalized symmetries(41:36) TTbar deformation(44:37) TTbar and supersymmetry(47:42) TTbar and Modmax theory(50:48) TTbar and holography(56:54) Outreach(1:05:50) Psychological aspects of research(1:12:00) Choosing problems(1:17:04) Building collaborations(1:24:20) Using AI for research(1:30:08) Choosing Ph.D. students(1:34:22) (People's question) Non-linearity in ML(1:37:43) (People's question) Is AI curious?(1:39:45) (People's questions) Practices for using AI

DescriptionPhil Halper is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a science communicator, well known for his YouTube channel (Skydivephil) featuring cosmology documentaries with prominent cosmologists and physicists.Dr. Niayesh Afshordi is a cosmologist at the University of Waterloo, with an associate faculty position at the Perimeter Institute. He works on black hole physics and quadratic gravity.Together, they have co-authored a book titled "Battle of the Big Bang," which compiles and discusses various cosmological theories.The link to their book and papers, and a list of Dr. Afshordi's works, is given belowSome links1) Their book: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo244963115.html2) Their Copenhagen survey: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.157763) Their APS survey: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.110584) Dr. Niayesh's works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/1023532?ui-citation-summary=true5) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/Contact InfoMy website: hassaansaleem.comFollow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1XFollow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHYEmail Queries: [email protected]Time stamps(0:00) Intro of the guests(0:25) Their book and Phil's series(5:56) Singularity theorems(22:11) Inflation(34:36) BGV theorem(45:41) Cosmic natural selection(1:04:34) Cyclic universe(1:17:05) Variable speed of light(1:29:47) More surveys?

DescriptionDr. Georges Obeid is a theoretical physicist at the University of Chicago who has worked on the dark dimension scenario, dark sector, and evolving dark energy models motivated by string theory. His list of works can be found below.Some links1) His works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/12466842) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/Contact InfoMy website: hassaansaleem.comFollow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1XFollow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHYEmail Queries: [email protected]Time stamps(0:00) Intro of the guest(0:16) Dark dimension scenario(05:18) Relevant data and tools(17:07) Phantom dark energy(22:29) Quintessence(25:25) deSitter conjecture(30:26) Clash between Inflation and swampland(34:02) Open problems in the dark dimension scenario(39:20) Coursework to research transition(43:40) Choosing problems to work on(45:10) Building collaborations(47:10) His interest in Physics(49:50) (People's question) Dark dimension and cosmological constant(52:41) (People's question) Talking to experimentalists(57:48) (People's question) Taking Ph.D students

DescriptionDr. Georges Obeid is a theoretical physicist at the University of Chicago who has worked on the dark dimension scenario, dark sector, and evolving dark energy models motivated by string theory. His list of works can be found below.Some links1) His works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/12466842) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/Contact InfoMy website: hassaansaleem.comFollow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1XFollow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHYEmail Queries: [email protected]Time stamps(0:00) Intro of the guest(0:16) Dark dimension scenario(05:18) Relevant data and tools(17:07) Phantom dark energy(22:29) Quintessence(25:25) deSitter conjecture(30:26) Clash between Inflation and swampland(34:02) Open problems in the dark dimension scenario(39:20) Coursework to research transition(43:40) Choosing problems to work on(45:10) Building collaborations(47:10) His interest in Physics(49:50) (People's question) Dark dimension and cosmological constant(52:41) (People's question) Talking to experimentalists(57:48) (People's question) Taking Ph.D students

Description

Dr. Lara Anderson is a theoretical physicist at Virginia Tech and has worked on string compactifications of M theory and F theory, and model building in type II and heterotic theories. A list of her works can be found at the link below

.Some links

1) Her works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/1030318?ui-citation-summary=true

2) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/

Contact Info

My website: hassaansaleem.com

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/

Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1X

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHY

Email Queries: [email protected]

Time stamps

(0:00) Intro of the guest

(0:15) Her work on compactifications

(6:30) Algebraic Geometry

(8:08) Swampland Program

(11:24) Calabi-Yau manifolds

(24:56) CICY manifolds

(27:18) Intersecting branes

(30:35) Science communication

(38:31) Coursework to research transition

(40:27) Difficult problems in postdocs

(42:37) Getting stuck in research

(44:01) Getting a PhD student

(47:57) Choosing a problem to work on

(51:42) Building collaborations

(52:53) (People's question) F theory

(54:15) (People's question) Moduli stabilization

(55:11) (People's question) Career vs Job

(56:40) (People's question) Homeschooling

(59:40) (People's question) Interest in Physics

(1:01:40) (People's question) Influential papers

(1:03:33) (People's question) Virginia Tech

Description

Dr. Tejinder Pal Singh is a theoretical physicist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Physics, working on the unification of interactions using trace dynamics and octonions. A list of his works is linked below.

Some links

1) His works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/988555?ui-citation-summary=true

2) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/

Contact Info

My website: hassaansaleem.com

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/

Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHY

Email Queries: [email protected]

Time stamps

(0:00) Intro of the guest

(0:16) His current projects

(3:37) Octonions

(13:57) Spacetime being classical

(17:38) Structure of the Lagrangian and Connes time

(22:50) Calculating path integral

(33:21) Why octonions?

(35:43) Role of SU(2)

(39:57) Electroweak scale as QG scale?

(46:17) Top quark problem

(50:18) Fine structure constant

(1:00:11) RG flow of Fine structure constant

(1:02:45) (People's question) Advice for students

(1:10:22) Anthropic reasoning

(1:14:21) (People's question) AI's impact

(1:17:29) (People's question) TIFR theory group

(1:33:42) (People's question) Relativistic collapse models

(1:38:45) (People's question) Thanu Padmanabhan

(1:40:43) (People's question) John Baez's work

DescriptionDr. Aninda Sinha is a theoretical physicist at the Indian Institute of Science, working on S matrix bootstrap, string amplitudes, and conformal field theories, among other things. A list of his works is linked below.Some links1) His works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/1019630?ui-citation-summary=true2) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/Contact InfoMy website: hassaansaleem.comFollow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1XFollow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHYEmail Queries: [email protected]Time stamps(0:00) Coming Up(0:21) Introduction of the guests(0:37) His current projects(3:13) His interest in Physics(4:28) c-theorem and a-theorem(11:54) g-theorem(12:54) Conformal bootstrap(17:46) Conformal bootstrap and holography(24:20) String amplitudes and π(33:12) Circuit complexity(41:52) Building collaborations(44:56) Choosing a research problem(46:24) Coursework to research transition(50:04) Taking a PhD student(51:24) (People's question) Thoughts on LLMs(54:25) (People's question) Bootstrap for extended operators(54:57) (People's question) Non-Physics courses at IISc(57:15) (People's question) Academic job market(1:04:30) (People's question) N-point scattering(1:06:20) (People's question) Bootstrap and positive geometry

DescriptionEran Palti is a theoretical physicist at Ben-Gurion University, working on the low-energy behavior of string theory, string compactifications, and the swampland program. The list of his works can be found below.Some links1) His works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/10293902) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/Contact InfoMy website: hassaansaleem.comJoin the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1XFollow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHYFollow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/Email: [email protected]Time stamps(0:00) Coming Up(0:11) Introduction of the guest(0:28) His current projects(6:41) Swampland Program(10:47) Distance conjecture(16:12) Metric on moduli spaces(17:52) Metric on vacuua(26:30) AdS distance conjecture(33:17) Building metrics on AdS vacuua(45:32) DGKT's holographic dual(47:24) DeSitter conjecture(51:39) Challenges of writing a review(56:00) Conceptual vs. calculation-based research(1:02:03) His other interests(1:02:58) (People's question) Textbook on swampland(1:06:16) (People's question) First postdoc expectation(1:10:36) (People's question) Purpose of swampland(1:15:39) (People's question) Giving up on a problem(1:19:38) (People's question) Passion vs Profession

Description

Keshav Dasgupta is a theoretical physicist at McGill University, working on string compactifications, especially on achieving deSitter spacetime from string theory (including the possibility of achieving deSitter as an excited state). The list of his works can be found below.

Some links

1) His works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/1012406?ui-citation-summary=true

2) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/

Contact Info

My website: hassaansaleem.com

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/

Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1X

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHY

Email Queries: [email protected]

Time stamps

(0:00) Coming Up

(0:41) Introduction of the guest

(0:59) His current projects

(15:23) The deSitter problem in string theory (a summary)

(26:42) deSitter as an excited state

(35:09) Breaking supersymmetry

(38:05) Norm of coherent states

(39:08) Fluctuations as coherent states

(41:28) Why did the 500-page paper become that long?

(45:50) Duality sequences

(55:16) Non-supersymmetric case?

(1:02:30) What are you calculating?

(1:07:39) Evading no-go theorems

(1:14:09) Worldsheet description available?

(1:17:10) Holographic dual of Glauber Sudharshan state

(1:18:23) The issue of scale separation

(1:21:00) Satisfying swampland constraints

(1:24:34) Embedding standard model

(1:27:51) Using localization techniques

(1:31:22) Open problems

(1:36:41) Choosing research problems

(1:43:19) Handling multiple projects

(1:44:50) (People's question) Comparison with KKLT

(1:49:16) (People's question) Writing short papers

(1:53:16) Interaction with Ed Witten

(1:54:50) (People's question) Living in Montreal

Description

Alok Laddha is a theoretical physicist at the Chennai Mathematical Institute, who majorly works on soft theorems, S matrices, and the positive geometry program. The list of his works can be found at the link provided below.

Some links

1) His works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/1036956

2) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/

Contact Info

My website: hassaansaleem.com

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/

Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1X

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHY

Email Queries: [email protected]

Time Stamps

(0:00) Coming up

(0:22) Intro of the guest

(0:44) His current projects

(01:59) Soft theorems

(12:16) Soft theorems and symmetries

(18:43) Soft theorems for scalars

(21:50) Soft theorem for higher spin?

(25:40) Positive Geometry program

(36:50) Unitarity from positive geometry

(48:08) Gentle Quivers (for positive geometry)

(50:37) Positive Geometry and Holography

(53:30) Positive Geometry and String Field Theory

(55:44) Reading Literature

(1:01:02) Choosing problems

(1:02:30) (People's question) Important problems

(1:05:13) (People's question) Advice for PhD/Postdocs

(1:07:37) (People's question) Research outside academia

(1:09:40) (People's question) PhD after a big gap

(1:11:07) (People's question) Hep-th job market

(1:13:53) (People's question) Gravitational wave memory

(1:15:53) (People's question) Leaving LQG

(1:19:22) (People's question) His hobbies