Events

Date: 20 October 2026   Time: 14:00 - 15:30     

Location: MB503

NOTE: Pre talk intro for non experts starts at 2pm, with seminar starting at 2.30pm

Title: CFTs on Squashed Spheres and the Thermal Effective Action

Abstract: I will discuss CFTs on deformed three-spheres, in two complementary limits. For small deformations of the round sphere, the free energy can be computed using conformal perturbation theory techniques. For large squashing deformations of the Hopf fiber, the free energy is instead governed by a 2d thermal effective action. I will show how this effective action relates the free energy of different backgrounds, and I will present explicit results for its Wilson coefficients for free fields, the critical O(N) model, and holographic CFTs.