Women at the Intersection of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics

" In this talk, I posit two concepts from the economics literature as hypotheses for the observed data on women in academia. This talk includes time for discussion about how these concepts can inform our approach to mentoring junior women. "

The Boltzmann--Gibbs entropy is a functional on the space of probability measures. One characterization of the Boltzmann--Gibbs entropy is given by the Shannon--Khinchin axioms, which consist of continuity, maximality, expandability and extensivity. The extensivity is expressed in terms of the linear combinations of conditional probabilities. Replacing the coefficients in the linear combinations with a power function provides a characterization of the Tsallis entropy. I talk about the impossibility to replace the coefficients with a non-power function.

"I discuss applications of a hidden $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$-symmetry in CFT with central charge $c \leq 1$ (focusing on the generic, semisimple case, with $c$ irrational). This symmetry provides a systematic method for solving Belavin-Polyakov-Zamolodchikov PDE systems, and in particular for explicit calculation of the asymptotics and monodromy properties of the solutions. Using a quantum Schur-Weyl duality, one can understand solution spaces of such PDE systems in a detailed way. The solutions, in turn, are useful both for CFT questions and for rigorous understanding of the connections of 2D CFT with critical models of statistical physics."

"Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics has seen some impressive developments in the last three decades, thank to the pioneering works of Evans, Cohen, Morris and Searles on the violation of the second law, soon followed by the ground-breaking formulation of the Fluctuation Theorem by Gallavotti and Cohen for entropy fluctuation in the early nineties. Their work was by vast literature, both theoretical and experimental The extension of these results to the quantum setting has turned out to be surprisingly challenging and it is still an undergoing effort. Kurchan’s seminal work (2000) showed the measurement role has to be taken in account, leading to the introduction of the so called two-time measurement statistics (also known as full counting statistics). However in this context, the lack of a trajectory notion leads to both conceptual and technical problems, or phenomena with no classical counterpart, as underlined by some of our recent results. In this talk I will review some of the key concept involved in the Fluctuation Theorem and its extensions to the quantum setting; I will present some recent results exploring the role played by ultraviolet regularity conditions (joint work with R.Raquépas and T.Benoist )."