Events

Date: 11 March 2026   Time: 15:00 - 18:00

Location: King's College, Room: S-2.23

Please register at: forms.gle/9fF2GWkoMWv4D2J19

15:00 - Marc Henneaux (Collège de France)

Abstract: Asymptotic symmetries, sometimes also known as "large gauge transformations", provide important dynamical information on theories with a gauge freedom formulated on spacetimes having a "boundary at infinity". A review of asymptotic symmetries will be given following the Hamiltonian approach. General features (such as the form of the symmetry generators and the structure of the algebra) will be explained. The discussion will focus on gravity in the asymptotically flat context, where the relevant asymptotic symmetry algebra is the infinite-dimensional BMS algebra.

16:30 - Timm Wrase (Lehigh University)

Abstract: A central challenge in string phenomenology is to understand the scalar potentials that arise from compactifications to lower-dimensional effective field theories. In recent years, the swampland program has called into question many earlier proposals for semi-realistic vacua in the string landscape. In this talk, I will review the relevant swampland conjectures and discuss the current status of proposed counterexamples. I will begin with the construction of four-dimensional N=1 Minkowski vacua with no massless scalar fields. I will then present recently discovered low-energy effective theories with negative cosmological constants - namely AdS vacua - arising in Type II and heterotic string compactifications on G2 spaces.