Topic: Is the World Continuous?
Speaker: Prof. Piljin Yi
Coordinates: Classroom 5204, 16:00, Friday, October 30
Abstract:
Quantum Field Theory is perhaps the most significant invention of 20th-century physics, elevating the quantum nature of the world on a solid pedestal. The framework is ubiquitous in theoretical physics, yet the defining toolkit therein, namely Wilsonian renormalization, is often misunderstood and misrepresented. This talk attempts to clean up many of the myths and confusions surrounding the matter, which eventually leads to the question of whether quantum physics can ever describe a truly continuous physical world. This train of thought brings us to the question of quantum gravity and an old yet little-appreciated story of in what sense string theory emerges as the sole candidate that may be able to address these subtlest issues successfully.
Speaker Profile:
Piljin Yi is a Professor of Physics at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), where he has been on the faculty since 1998. He received B.S. in physics from Seoul National University in 1987 and Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1994, followed by postdoctoral appointments at Columbia University (1994-1997) and Cornell University (1997-1998). He has also held visiting positions at the University of Chicago and Stanford University, and was a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He has served in leadership roles including Chair of the School of Physics and Vice President at KIAS, Vice President of the Korean Physical Society.
His research spans gravity, string theory, and mathematical physics. He is widely known for the existence proof of D0-brane bound states, a prerequisite for the celebrated M-theory, which later expanded into rigorous formulations of the topological index and wall-crossing for general gauged systems. He has authored landmark papers on supersymmetric solitons, and his works on a holographic study of baryons have been invited for plenary talks at major nuclear physics conferences. He has spoken at the Strings conferences and served on their International Advisory Committee.
Selected honors include the Prime Minister Award for Academic Excellence, the APS Outstanding Young Researcher Award, and recognition as an Outstanding/Leading Scientist by the Korea Academy of Science and Technology.