Related papers: Universes as Big Data
String phenomenology is the branch of string theory concerned with making contact with particle physics. The original models involved compactifying ten-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on an internal Calabi-Yau three-fold. In…
In Calabi--Yau compactifications of the heterotic string there exist quantities which are universal in the sense that they are present in every Calabi--Yau string vacuum. It is shown that such universal characteristics provide numerical…
The intersection of string theory with cosmology is unavoidable in the early universe, and its exploration may shine light on both fields. In this thesis, three papers at this intersection are presented and reviewed, with the aim of…
The changing heavens have played a central role in the scientific effort of astronomers for centuries. Galileo's synoptic observations of the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus starting in 1610, provided strong refutation of Ptolemaic…
Big data has ushered in a new wave of predictive power using machine learning models. In this work, we assess what {\it big} means in the context of typical materials-science machine-learning problems. This concerns not only data volume,…
These lectures, given at the Chinese Academy of Sciences for the BeiJing/HangZhou International Summer School in Mathematical Physics, are intended to introduce, to the beginning student in string theory and mathematical physics, aspects of…
In these lectures, two different aspects of brane world scenarios in 5d gravity or string theory are discussed. In the first two lectures, work on how warped compactifications of 5d gravity theories can change the guise of the hierarchy…
String theory is changing the relationship between mathematics and physics. The central role is played by the phenomenon of duality, which is intrinsic to quantum physics and abundant in string theory.
This paper analyzes the effective field theory perspective on modern physics through the lens of the quantum theory of gravitational interaction. The historical part argues that the search for a theory of quantum gravity stimulated the…
We briefly review three aspects of string cosmology: (1) the ``stochastic'' approach to the pre-big bang scenario, (2) the presence of chaos in the generic cosmological solutions of the tree-level low-energy effective actions coming out of…
Recent experimental advances in neuroscience have opened new vistas into the immense complexity of neuronal networks. This proliferation of data challenges us on two parallel fronts. First, how can we form adequate theoretical frameworks…
We study string field theory (third quantization) of the two-dimensional model of quantum geometry called generalized CDT ("causal dynamical triangulations"). Like in standard non-critical string theory the so-called string field…
This introductory work combines bottom-up and top-down approaches towards understanding the underlying categorical structure of possible unifying theories descending from string theory. Guided by well-established developments in the realm…
The scenario that the Universe contracts towards a big crunch and then undergoes a transition to expanding Universe in envisaged in the quantum string cosmology approach. The Wheeler-De Witt equation is solved exactly for an exponential…
In this opening talk I first describe how we are entering a data-rich era, and what clues we might soon have to physics beyond the SM (on a time scale of several years). Then we turn to a number of the basic issues we hope to explain, and…
At its very beginning, the universe is believed to have grown exponentially in size via the mechanism of inflation. The almost scale-invariant density perturbation spectrum predicted by inflation is strongly supported by cosmological…
We use mirror symmetry to establish the first concrete arena of spacetime topology change in string theory. In particular, we establish that the {\it quantum theories} based on certain nonlinear sigma models with topologically distinct…
Particle physics has evolved in the past decade through evaluating the consequences of experimental measurements as well as exploiting theoretical tools that permit exploration of new model building and cosmological possibilities.…
This article surveys some of the highlights in the development of string theory through the first superstring revolution in 1984. The emphasis is on topics in which the author was involved, especially the observation that critical string…
A review is attempted of physical motivations, theoretical and phenomenological aspects, as well as outstanding problems, of the pre-big bang scenario in string cosmology.