Event



High Energy seminar: "Embracing both Wigner and `t Hooft in matrix models of 2D gravity"

Clifford V. Johnson (USC)
- | David Rittenhouse Laboratory, 4C6

The main purpose of this talk is to urge us to more carefully consider how random matrix models capture theories of 2D gravity. The key is to emphasize a Wignerian view alongside the more standard ’t Hooftian approach used in this area. A central observation is that without doing so, the usual narratives about the physics are incomplete. The  results prompt a proposal for an overhaul of how we think about  the subject, and an immediate consequence is a new proposed duality that makes holography for JT gravity (and probably other 2D gravities) much more like traditional holography in other dimensions. This provides a simple solution to the factorization puzzle, and opens up some interesting avenues of research.