| Close encounters of the wormhole kind |
| Phil Saad, Institute for Advanced Study |
| Event Type: HEP Seminar |
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| Time: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM |
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| Location: 726 Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar |
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| Abstract: We conjecture a precise formula for the spectral form factor of a double-scaled matrix integral in the limit of large t and large density of states. The formula has a genus expansion with a finite radius of convergence. To understand the origin of this series in the gravity dual, we compare to the expansion of the spectral form factor from the semiclassical theory of ``encounters'' in periodic orbits. In Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity, these encounters correspond to portions of the moduli space integral that mutually cancel but individually grow at high energies. The encounter approximation breaks down at low energies, and (as we show in the simplest case of genus one in the Airy limit of JT) the full moduli space integral that replaces it gives a nonzero answer. Link to the Event Video |