Conformal Bootstrap, CFTs, and Gravity

Quantum field theory (QFT) is the framework which describes a very wide range of physical phenomena from condensed matter physics to particle physics. Yet, we do not have complete control of such systems. A major reason for this is that at strong coupling when perturbative techniques fail, computations in QFT often become intractable. One can make progress by considering quantum field theories that have a high degree of symmetry. Of particular significance are conformal field theories (CFT), which describe quantum systems at criticality. The conformal symmetry gives rise to a non-perturbative technique called conformal bootstrap, that enables the computation of observables at strong coupling, and in particular the spectrum of operators and their interactions. In recent years there has been tremendous progress in implementing various analytical techniques, notably dispersive techniques, in the conformal and S-matrix bootstrap.

Quantizing gravity remains one of the major open problems in physics. The AdS/CFT correspondence is a duality that connects the problem of quantum gravity to the problem of strongly coupled QFT. The space of consistent CFTs is connected to the space of consistent theories of gravity. Studying quantum field theories on Anti-deSitter space is an important ingredient to attack both these problems. 

The workshop will focus on discussing these developments and related ones in quantum field theory and gravity.