In this talk I will summarize how duality symmetries of supergravity models can potentially lead to global symmetries. These are associated to deformation classes of spaces with non-trivial duality bundle and classified by so-called bordism groups. Since global symmetries are not allowed for consistent theories of quantum gravity, there need to exist certain objects that break these global symmetries. We will discuss S-duality for type IIB supergravity as well as U-duality for maximal 8d supergravities and explore the necessary symmetry-breaking objects in the various setups.

Self-assembly is both an advantageously spontaneous process to organize molecular or colloidal entities into functional superstructures and a key-feature of how life builds its components. However, compared to their living counterparts, synthetic materials made by self-assembly usually lack some of the interesting properties of living systems such as multicomponent character or capability to adapt, transform and evolve. In this presentation, I will describe different systems where life-like properties can emerge from self-assembled synthetic materials. First, I will show that user-defined and elaborate nanostructures (e.g., DNA origamis, nanogrids, SST assemblies) can be obtained by the isothermal self-assembly of hundreds of different DNA bricks and proteins with a unique capability to optimize, adapt, evolve and even completely transform their morphology, either spontaneously or under command [1-2]. I will also present a new DNA self-assembly principle that does not rely on base-pairing principles, showing in particular that photosensitive DNA intercalating molecules can co-assemble with DNA bases to form new extended supramolecular materials with intriguing dynamic properties. I will describe in particular the formation of photoswitchable 3D crystals with unique photoreversible growth and light-gated fluorescence [3]. Finally, I will present different colloidal self-assembly processes at air-water or liquid-liquid interfaces and explore how dynamic properties can emerge from such systems. Starting from the familiar situation of drying drop containing a colloidal suspensions, we have been interested in controlling/cancelling the so-called “coffee-ring effect” [4-7] or turning it into a low-cost yet powerful medical diagnostic tool [8]. In such systems, however, particles adsorb at the interface to form amorphous structures. This led us to invent a simple method in which bulk particles adsorb at the water-interface and directly crystallize there. Based on the use of ultralow amounts of surfactant, 2D colloidal crystals spontaneously form without any other applied force than their own weight [9]. This method allows us to crystallize a broad variety of nanometric and micrometric particles, including those made of polymers, metals or inorganic materials, and tune the characteristics of the colloidal crystals [10] that can be further deposited on solid substrates [11]. These colloidal crystals display intense structural colors as well as, under some conditions, some remarkable dynamic properties at the air/water interface. For instance, using light, we can reversibly melt/crystallize these colloidal assemblies on command, evidencing other life-like properties, such as dissipative character or living crystallization [12-13].

[1] Rossi-Gendron et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 2023, 18, 1311–1318
[2] Nakazawa et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 15214 –15219
[3] Zhou et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 9321–9329
[4] Anyfantakis et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 14077–14081
[5] Varanakkottu et al., Nano Lett. 2016, 16, 644–650
[6] Poulichet et al., J. Colloid. Interf. Sci. 2020, 573, 370-375
[7] Galy et al., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14, 3374–3384
[8] Devineau et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 11623–11632
[9] Anyfantakis, Langmuir 2018, 34, 15526−15536
[10] Vialetto et al., Nanoscale 2020, 12, 6279-6284
[11] Vialetto et al., Adv. Sci. 2024, 11, 2307893
[12] Vialetto et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 9145-9149
[13] Vialetto et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 11535−11543

Elaborating on the recent developments concerning Feynman integrals' calculus and Scattering Amplitudes' evaluation,
I introduce the Intersection Theory for twisted de Rham co-homology, and discuss how Intersection Numbers rule the vector-space structure of special functions, such as Euler-Mellin integrals, appearing in Mathematics and Physics.
Applications in Electromagnetism, Quantum Mechanics,
QFT and Cosmology point to the crucial impact of Intersection Theory on the theory of Fundamental Interactions.

I will discuss cosmic strings associated with axions arising from extra-dimensional gauge fields, with a focus on their impact on axion dark matter. Unlike more common 4D setups, the string cores are fundamentally singular, demanding a UV-complete description to make sense of their properties and cosmology. We take it to be the string theory axiverse, for which we show that the presence of cosmic strings can lead to overproduction of axion dark matter regardless of the axion mass. We then explore how the multiple axions of the axiverse alleviate that conclusion.

Nearly twenty years ago in an experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory, physicists measured the muon's anomalous magnetic moment, a_mu, with a remarkable precision of 0.54 parts per million. Since that time, the reference Standard Model prediction for a_mu has exhibited a discrepancy with experiment of over 3 standard deviations, raising the tantalizing possibility of elementary particles or fundamental forces as yet undiscovered. On April 7, 2021 the physicists of an ongoing experiment at Fermilab presented first results of a new measurement of a_mu, brilliantly confirming Brookhaven's measurement and bringing the discrepancy with the reference prediction to a near discovery level of 4.2 sigma. This discrepancy was further enhanced to 5.1 sigma this past with the publication of Fermilab’s new result that reduces the measurement uncertainty by a factor of 2. According to usual particle physics standards, such a discrepancy would mean that new fundamental physics has been uncovered.

In the meantime a very large-scale supercomputer calculation of the contribution that most limits the precision of the Standard Model prediction was performed by the Budapest-Marseille-Wuppertal collaboration. The results of this lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) calculation paint a very different picture, in particular reducing the difference between theory and experiment and suggesting that new physics may not be needed to explain the current, experimental, world-average value of a_mu. However, it does so at the expense of an untenable discrepancy with the data-driven determination of this most uncertain contribution.

After an introduction and a discussion of the current experimental and theoretical status of a_mu, I will present this precise lattice QCD calculation and partial confirmations by other teams. I will also present a framework that enables a comparison of the primary ingredients that are used in the lattice QCD and data-driven approaches and discuss the steps that are required to make a Standard Model prediction that will allow determine whether the final results of the Fermilab experiment, expected in 2025, indicate the presence of new fundamental physics.

TBA

Quasiprobabilities are mathematical quantities describing the statistics of measurement outcomes evaluated at two or more times, which incorporate the incompatibility of the measurement observables and the state of the measured quantum system. In this tutorial, I present the definition, interpretation and properties of the main quasiprobabilities known in the literature as well as techniques to measure them experimentally. I illustrate the use of quasiprobabilities in quantum thermodynamics to describe the quantum statistics of work and heat, and to explain anomalies in the energy exchanges during a thermodynamic transformation. On the one hand, in work protocols, we show how absorbed energy can be converted to extractable work and vice versa due to Hamiltonian incompatibility at distinct times. On the other hand, in exchange processes between two quantum systems initially at different temperatures, we explain how quantum correlations in their initial state may induce cold-to-hot energy exchanges, which are unnatural between any pair of equilibrium non- driven systems.


Reference https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.17138.pdf