Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium (ASC)
Episodes
Two-Dimensional Melting Transition: New Algorithms, New Insights
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The hard-disk model has exerted outstanding influence on computational physics and statistical mechanics. Decades ago, hard disks were the first sys...
Precision Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We review the current status of measurements of the spectrum, an isotropy and polarization of the CMB, and their impact on cos- mology. We show that ...
The development of twistor geometry for the description of fundamental physics
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
I will review the basic defi�nitions and ideas of the twistor program for fundamental physics, as started by Roger Penrose around 1970. I will giv...
Topological Superconductivity and Unconventional pairing in Oxide Interfaces
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
To pinpoint the microscopic mechanism for superconductivity has proven to be one of the most outstanding challenges in the physics of correlated qua...
Phenomenological and Cosmological Implications of String Theory Models
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
Cosmology with Type Ia Supernovae: where do we stand today?
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The role of Type Ia supernovae in observational cosmology has evolved from being ”avant-garde” in the early 1990’s until today’s mature statu...
Lattice gauge theory insights
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Various aspects of lattice gauge theory will be briefly discussed including, general principles, sources of systematic errors, dynamical fermions, QCD...
Higher Spin --- CFT duality
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The conjectured relation between higher spin theories on anti de-Sitter (AdS) spaces and weakly coupled conformal �field theories is reviewed. I sha...
Searching for New Forces Using Torsion Pendula
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Equivalence principle violation, deviations from the inverse-square law of gravity, and long-range interactions between particle spins o�er powerf...
A Closer Look at Black Holes
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Several new techniques are currently being employed to probe the strong gravitational fi�eld in the vicinity of black holes. Long baselineinterferom...
Higher-Spin Gravity and Higher Spin Black Holes in Three Dimensions
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Three-dimensional Einstein gravity has no local dynamical degree of freedom. Yet, it is far from being trivial when the cosmological constant is nega...
Harmony of Scattering Amplitudes and Form Factors
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this seminar I will describe some of the hidden structures recently discovered in the scattering amplitudes of elementary particles, such as thos...
Cascade of phase transitions near Quantum Critical Point
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the standard picture of a quantum phase transition, a single quantum critical point separates the phases at zero temperature. Here we show that th...
Einstein and Quantum Mechanics: It's Not What You Think
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Einstein is well known for his rejection of quantum mechanics in the form it emerged from the work of Heisenberg, Born and Schrodinger in 1926. Much l...
Statistical Physics and Information Theory : New Frontiers
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since the emergence of information theory in the middle of the 20th century, this new scientific field has been deeply entangled with statistical phys...
Status of the Electroweak Standard Model
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
With the discovery of the Higgs boson and the determination of its mass, the Standard Model is complete and its parameters are now known and over-con...
Near-Pristine Gas at High Redshifts: First Stars, Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis, and Limits on Dark Radiation
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this seminar, I shall describe recent work by our group on iden- tifying pockets of gas at high redshift that have undergone mini- mum processing t...
Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays: probe of extreme particle physics
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Remarkably, a strong candidate for Dark Matter exists within the Standard Model. Theoretical arguments suggest that QCD forces in the flavor-singlet s...
The History behind the Brout-Englert-Mechanism and the Standard Model
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
I will describe the process of how to award Nobel Prizes and then give the history behind this year’s prize.
Contacting the moon
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The restricted three body problem has an intriguing dynamics. Glo- bal surfaces of section are a tool to reduce the study of the dynamics on a three d...
Real Time Imaging of Thermal and Quantum Fluctuations
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Tremendous progresses have been achieved in the last decade in real- ising and manipulating stable and controllable quantum systems, and these made po...
Quantum Gravity with Anisotropic Scaling and the Multicritical Universe
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The problem of understanding how gravity fits together with other fundamental interactions of matter has been at the forefront of the- oretical resear...
Negative absolute temperatures for mobile particles
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Absolute temperature, that is the fundamental temperature scale in thermodynamics, is usually bound to be positive. Under special con- ditions, howeve...
Exact, Broken and Approximate Symmetries
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
Planck mission: the 2013 cosmology results
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
The role of duality in transport in imperfect Luttinger liquid
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A single potential impurity can drastically change a low-temperature transport of strongly interacting particles in one dimension - a sys- tem which i...
Lattice QCD in Regensburg
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In Regensburg there exists a large Lattice-QCD group (SFB/TR-55) working in many fields, ranging from the development of energy efficient super-comput...
The next ten years of dark energy research
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the next few years new data from ground and space will push the limit of cosmological observations to new frontiers. Combining CMB, weak lensing, r...
Non-equilibrium Relaxation and Aging Kinetics
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
If systems characterized by slow (algebraic) relaxation are prepared in an out-of-equilibrium initial state, one can observe a "physical aging regime...
Cosmological Symmetry Breaking as Origin of the Hot Early Universe
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The decay of a false vacuum of unbroken B-L, the difference of baryon and lepton number, is an intriguing and testable mechanism to gen- erate the ini...
Turbulence: scaling and beyond
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This lecture is aimed at a rather broad audience including under- graduates. It will discuss scaling arguments, what they can achieve (Kolmogorov’s ...
Lorentz Violation, Gravity, Dissipation and Holography
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Lorentz non-invariance in quantum field theory is reconsidered as well as its interplay with gravity, string theory, diffeomorphism invariance and cha...
Neutrino Paradigm and Large Hadron Collider
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The physics of elementary particles is governed by symmetries. A particular symmetry stands out: the one between left and right, called parity. Its br...
Novel Topologically Ordered Phases of Condensed Matter
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Much of condensed matter physics is concerned with understanding how different kinds of order emerge from interactions between a large number of simpl...
The Many Faces of Conformal Interfaces
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Conformal interfaces are the long-distance limits of domain walls. They play a role in condensed-matter physics, and could be also rel- evant for theo...
Critical Acceleration
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In collisions of ultra-intense laser-pulse with relativistic electrons as well as in ultra relativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC and at LHC it is ...
Quantum Theory and Realism - 'Esquisse d'un Programme'
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this lecture I propose to discuss some issues concerning the founda- tions of quantum mechanics and its interplay with space-time physics. I start ...
Sommerfeld Lecture Series
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The central mystery in quantum matter is the general nature of mat- ter formed from fermions. The methods of many body quantum physics fail and one ca...
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Sun is a most remarkable object: it is filled with vibrantly evolv- ing magnetic fields, well-mixed hierarchically-arranged turbulent con- vective...
Sommerfeld Lecture Series
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In connection with the existing and forthcoming missions dedicated to search for cosmic antimatter, the models of baryogenesis leading to an efficient...
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A theory with such a mathematical beauty cannot be wrong: this was one of the main arguments in favor of string theory, which unifies all known physic...
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Localization of the eigenfunctions of quantum particles in a random potential was discovered by P.W. Anderson more than 50 years ago. In spite of its ...
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Evidence has been accumulating for several decades that many galaxies harbor central mass concentrations that may be in the form of black holes with m...
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Planck mission was launched successfully in May last year. I will give a summary of the scientific aims of the Planck mission and a brief overview...
Arnold Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A network of ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors (LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/...) is currently taking data near its planned sensitivity. Coa...
Arnold Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The next generation of surveys, e.g. the Dark Energy Survey, PanSTARRS, LSST, Euclid and others, aim to study the nature of Dark Energy and alternativ...
Arnold Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The "Inverse Ising Problem" refers to finding the parameters (the Jij's and the hi's) in an Ising model given the first and second moments (the magnet...
Arnold Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Based on a calculation of the shear viscosity η and the entropy density s of certain strongly coupled field theories via the AdS/CFT-correspondence, ...
Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Are there plausible extensions of the Standard Model that could lead to early discoveries at the LHC? To address this general question on a concrete e...
Arnold Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this talk I present a simple derivation of an old result of Kochen and Specker, which is apparently unrelated to the famous work of Bell on hidden ...
Arnold Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this talk I will describe the light-front formulation of maxi- mally supersymmetric theories. This is a formalism where only the physical degrees o...
Arnold Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
To illuminate how electroweak symmetry breaking shapes the physical world, we investigate what the world would be like in the absence of electroweak s...
Arnold Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Majorana fermions are spatially localized superpositions of electron and hole excitations in the middle of a superconducting energy gap. These unusual...