GGI Tea Breaks is a new web-seminars series on the Theory of Fundamental Interactions, covering a wide spectrum of arguments.
The aim is to discuss the open questions in Fundamental physics while offering to researches and pH.D. students a simple introduction to some of the hottest topics in the field.


Speaker:
Leonardo Rastelli (Yang Institute, Stony Brook)

Title:
Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps in quantum gravity

Abstract
The bootstrap program leverages symmetry and mathematical consistency to study strongly coupled quantum systems. Its flagship result has been the solution of the 3D critical Ising model from abstract principles alone. In this talk I will outline how universal properties of quantum gravity can also be studied from a bootstrap perspective. A surprising discovery has been a connection between black hole thermodynamics and the sphere packing problem, a venerable question in pure mathematics.