Higgs Centre School of Theoretical Physics 2024

The 9th edition of the Higgs Centre School of Theoretical Physics will take place from 27-31 May 2024. The scientific programme starts at 9:00 on Monday the 27th, and ends at 17:30 on Friday the 31st.

The School comprises two in-depth lecture series, each involving five 2-hours lectures delivered on the blackboard, and a similar number of tutorials.

For this year's School our two lecturers will be Philip Mannheim (University of Connecticut) and Iñaki García Etxebarria (University of Durham).

Philip Mannheim – Pedagogical Introduction to Gravity and General Relativity

Starting from a pedagogical introduction and first principles these five lectures will discuss current open problems in gravity and cosmology as well as some original solutions to them. Material Covered: Gravity, cosmology and the problem of motion from the ancient Greeks to Newton to Einstein. Special relativity. General relativity. Curvature. Classic tests of general relativity. Gravity waves. Black holes. Newtonian cosmology. Big Bang theory. Inflation. Dark matter. Dark energy. Accelerating universe.

Iñaki García Etxebarria - Generalised Symmetries and Anomalies

In the last few years it has become clear that it is useful to generalise the textbook definition of symmetry, as a transformation of the fields which leaves the action invariant, to a more general notion (going under the name "categorical symmetries") more naturally formulated in the language of topological field theory. In these introductory lectures I will motivate this generalisation, and then explain some basic features of this emerging new viewpoint on symmetries, including how we understand anomalies in this new picture.

Information for delegates: This is an in-person event only and the fee to attend is £50. A funding subsidy towards the cost of accommodation (£200) will be available to the first 25 people who register and attend the event.

If you have any questions please contact sopa.events@ed.ac.uk

Registration is now open!

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