Beatrix Muehlmann - The semiclassical gravitational path integral and random matrices

Tuesday 14 Dec 2021, 14:00 → 16:00 Europe/Zurich

Zoom Only (CERN)

Abstract:

In this talk I will discuss the genus expansion over compact Riemann surfaces of the semiclassical gravitational path integral in two spacetime dimensions coupled to one of the minimal models (2,2m-1). In the semiclassical limit we take m to infinity. Conjecturally this path integral allows for a completion in terms of an integral over large random Hermitian matrices, known as a multicritical matrix integral. I will discuss the genus expansion of multicritical matrix integrals and relate invariant quantities stemming both from matrix as well as gravity calculations. Inspired by the proposal of Gibbons and Hawking relating the de Sitter entropy to a gravitational path integral, this setup paves a possible path toward a microscopic picture of a two-dimensional de Sitter universe.