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Seminar Gæsteforelæsning

29.02.2024   kl. 15:00 - 16:00

QM Research Seminar: Numbers and Functions in Quantum Field Theory: From Algebraic Geometry to Precision Physics

Speaker: Matthias Wilhelm (Niels Bohr Institute)


Abstract:

In this talk, I will give an overview of the numbers and functions that occur in Quantum Field Theory, which are relevant for the calculation of precision predictions for collider and gravitational-wave experiments. In the simplest cases, the functions that occur are multiple polylogarithms, generalizations of logarithms. They are by now very well understood and allow us to reach precision that would be impossible using any other method; in one case up to the eighth subleading order in perturbation theory! In the next cases, we encounter elliptic integrals, where much progress was made in recent years. Beyond these, we encounter an infinite zoo of further functions involving integrals over Calabi-Yau manifolds, which are currently being explored.