Quantized Ramblings

8.5 Part 3: String theory and (other) science fiction

Chetan begins by reviewing the eikonal approximation, and factorization theorems for amplitudes. Amartya then discusses this in context of quantum gravity, causality cons

8.5 Part 2

Santhosh begins this episode with a discussion about transverse field Ising chains and dualities, anyon algebras, and systems with known spectra but unknown states. Amart

8.5 Part 1: Impromptu over chai

We reunite in person after nearly 2 years. Chetan begins this episode with a discussion about Witten's recent work on the deep connection between gauge-gravity amplitudes

Positivity bounds and gravity

In this episode, we begin by reviewing the weak gravity conjecture. We then discuss such "swampland conjectures" from the EFT perspective- in the form of positivity bound

CPT and the neutrino story

In this episode, we discuss aspects of hermiticity and unitarity, in the context of PT-symmetric Hamiltonians. Then, we take a detour towards discussing the fascinating s

Thoughts on Academia

In this episode, we discuss what has our experience doing physics been so far-how it's different from what we thought it'd be, what lies ahead. We express (some very stro

2D magnetism with Rohan Maniar

In this episode, our friend and today's guest on the podcast, Rohan Maniar, talks about his area of research- 2D magnetic systems. We discuss long-range order in 2D syste

"Chai pe charcha"

We start by briefly discussing axions and inflation. Amartya then rambles about the structure of vacua in compactified theories. Chetan discusses an interesting relations

Integrability

In this episode, we discuss ideas of integrability in physics, ranging from classical mechanics to classical and quantum field theories. Amartya discusses some ideas abou

From Parafermions to the Swampland

In this episode, Santhosh describes some features of 1D interacting systems, exploring Bethe ansatz, parafermions, dualities, etc. and Amartya rambles about unitarity bou

Cosmological collider physics

In this episode, Amartya rambles about an interesting idea of studying inflationary correlators, and we discuss the unreasonable effectiveness of physics in math.

An operator for time?

In this episode, we discuss the consequences of having a "time" operator in physical theories and ramble about related ideas.

Bose-Einstein condensates with Gautam Hegde

In this episode, we have our first guest, our good friend Gautam, who rambles about cool stuff from granular gases to superfluids.

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking

In this episode, we talk about an idea central to both condensed matter and particle physics-spontaneous symmetry breaking. Starting from the instructive example of a fer

But, what is Time?

In this episode, we discuss the idea of time in physics, inspired by the concept in the movie, Arrival. We ramble about general covariance in relativity, choosing space-l

From Compactifications to Topological Insulators

In this episode, we discuss the interesting ideas of spontaneous compactification of higher dimensions in theories like string theory, the Kaluza-Klein picture, etc. We t

Starts with a bang: story of the Universe

In this episode, we discuss the million dollar question- how did the universe begin? Why does it expand? How does large scale structure form? Listen to us ramble about th

Hot stuff: From Temperature to Black holes

In this episode, we discuss various ideas to understand what "temperature" is. Usually a statistical parameter describing equilibrium systems, we try to look for a more g

RG flows and all that

In this episode, we (Chetan, Amartya, and Santhosh) discuss some random ideas about quantum field theories, which range from hidden structures/symmetries, RG flows, anoma