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The many uses of BPS particles
Special Events| Speaker: | Andrew Neitzke, University of Texas at Austin |
| Location: | 1147 MSB |
| Start time: | Tue, Feb 3 2015, 4:10PM |
"BPS particles" are certain distinguished objects which arise in supersymmetric quantum field theory. You do not have to know what they are to understand this talk: I will focus on a simple class of examples which are geometrically concrete and self-contained, where BPS states correspond to certain special geodesics or geodesic webs on Riemann surfaces. In the last few years it has been understood that BPS states are connected to various other problems in mathematics and physics, ranging from hyperkahler geometry to analysis of ODEs, cluster algebras, and Chern-Simons theory. I will give an overview of the story. Most of the work I review is joint work with Davide Gaiotto and Greg Moore; I will also touch on some upcoming work with Dan Freed.
Refreshments will be served in the room 20 minutes before the talk.