Speaker
Christopher Rosen
Description
Renormalization group flows between fixed points provide a
powerful framework for both exploring and cataloging the
myriad ways in which field theories can behave at low
energies. Under favorable conditions, the physics of such
flows can be reformulated geometrically, and examined in the
context of gauge/gravity duality. I will discuss an
interesting class of such flows, driven by carefully tuned
spatially modulated deformations of a UV fixed point. This
deformation can result in a "boomerang" RG flow, in which
the theory returns to itself at low energies (with a
renormalization of length scales). For sufficiently large
deformations, the flow can exhibit intermediate energy
scaling regimes along its journey to the IR fixed point. A
“top-down” holographic description of this trajectory can be
realized as a new solution to D=11 supergravity which
deforms the AdS_4 x S^7 vacuum in a peculiar way.
