| Wednesday, April 10, 2024 |
| The Milky Way and the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of the Sky | |
| Or Graur, University of Portsmouth | |
| Event Type: Special Seminar | |
| Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM | |
| Location: 726 Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar | |
| Abstract: The ancient Egyptians left us some of the earliest records of the night sky, where they noted the Sun, Moon, planets, and several constellations. Many of these objects are associated with, or personified by, certain gods (such as Re and the Sun). Yet how the Egyptians conceptualized the sky remains unclear. In a recent paper, I study this question by combining astronomical simulations of the Egyptian night sky, readings of ancient Egyptian religious texts (the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and the Book of Nut), and anthropological studies of Milky Way creation stories from around the world. I find some evidence to associate the Milky Way with the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut and argue that the Milky Way was used to illuminate Nut's presence as the sky. | |
| Generalized Symmetry in Dynamical Gravity | |
| Clifford Cheung, Caltech | |
| Event Type: HEP Seminar | |
| Time: 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM | |
| Location: 726 Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar | |
| Abstract: The concept of symmetry in quantum field theory has broadened considerably in the past decade. A particularly well-studied example is higher-form symmetry, which acts inherently on extended objects. Working in lockstep analogy with gauge theory, we explore one-form symmetry in the effective field theory context of dynamical, nonlinear gravity. Notably, the interplay between line operators and symmetry defect operators in gravity has a natural geometric interpretation in terms of classical general relativity. | |