Symmetries under reflecting temperature to negative values
by
David McGady(NBI, Copenhagen)
→
Europe/Stockholm
Nordita east wing 132:028
Nordita east wing 132:028
Description
Partition functions' convergence in e.g. statistical mechanics seem
deeply tied to temperature's positivity. Surprisingly, one can
explicitly check that many model partition functions are invariant
under reflecting their temperature-parameter to negative values
(T-reflection). Demanding this invariance selects a unique vacuum
energy of the system. Finite temperatures in relativistic quantum
field theory are introduced through putting the theory on a circle of
radius 1/T; T-reflection seems deeply tied to a redundancy in the
geometry of this so-called thermal circle. It has already revealed
both two-dimensional structures governing four-dimensional physics,
and new aspects of deep theorems in modern mathematics.
