Program on Fundamental Aspects of String Theory

August 4-15, 2025 

ICTP-SAIFR, São Paulo, Brazil

Venue: Principia Institute and IFT-UNESP (Thursday August 14)

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String theory is a mathematically consistent theory of quantum gravity, but no one has determined whether it describes quantum gravitational interactions in our own Universe. The principal obstacle is that the theoretical tools used to study string theory, including the worldsheet formalism, spacetime effective theory, and holographic dualities, can at the moment describe only limited and idealized phenomena in nearly flat space.

This 2-week program will bring together researchers working on various aspects of these tools such as the pure spinor formalism, string field theory, AdS-CFT and algebraic geometry to try to extend these tools to describe more complicated superstring backgrounds.

The format will include only a few seminars per day with lots of time for discussion and collaboration. The first week of the program from August 4-8 will be jointly organized with the last week of the annual Simons Bootstrap Collaboration meeting at Institute Principia. The second week of the program will also be at Institute Principia except for Thursday afternoon August 14 which will be at IFT-UNESP.

There is no registration fee and limited funds are available for local expenses.

Organizers:

  • Nathan Berkovits (ICTP-SAIFR,IFT/UNESP, Brazil)
  • Pedro Vieira (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada & ICTP-SAIFR/IFT-UNESP, Brazil)
  • Xi Yin (Harvard University, USA)

 

Announcement:

Application deadline: June 28, 2025 (closed)

Confirmed Speakers

  • Luis Fernando Alday (Oxford Univ., UK)
  • Nathan Berkovits (ICTP-SAIFR/IFT-UNESP, Brazil)
  • Kasia Budzik (Harvard U., Canada)
  • Shai Chester (Imperial College, UK)
  • Veronika Hubeny (UC Davis, USA)
  • Henry Lin (Stanford U., USA)
  • Liam McAllister (Cornell U., USA)
  • Andre Mikhailov (IFT-UNESP, Brazil)
  • Horatiu Nastase (IFT-UNESP, Brazil)
  • Silviu Pufu (Princeton U., USA)
  • Mukund Rangamani (UC Davis, USA)
  • Jorge Russo (U. Barcelona, Spain)
  • Pedro Vieira (Perimeter I., Canada & ICTP-SAIFR/IFT-UNESP, Brazil)
  • Xi Yin (Harvard U., USA)

Registration

Announcement:

Application deadline: June 28, 2025 (closed)

Program

 Week 1 (August 4-8):

Monday Aug. 4 – Video here
10:00 – 11:15   Silviu Pufu  “Supercurrents and (partial) supersymmetry in 2d adjoint QCD and its generalizations”
11:45 – 12:45   Andrea Guerrieri (bootsrap) “Maximizing the interaction strength”

Tuesday Aug. 5 – Video here
10:00 – 11:15  Henry Lin  “Bootstrapping matrix quantum mechanics 1”
11:45 – 12:45   Frank Coronado (bootstrap) “Open-closed-open triality in N=4 sYM”
15:30 – 16:30  Shai Chester “Bootstrapping string and M-theory” – Video here

Wednesday Aug. 6 – Video here
10:00 – 11:15   Henry Lin “Bootstrapping matrix quantum mechanics 2”
11:45 – 13:00   Parallel talks (bootstrap)
15:30 – 16:30  Liam MacAllister  “Computational compactifications and de Sitter” – Video here

Thursday Aug. 7 – Video here
10:00 – 11:15  Henry Lin   “Bootstrapping matrix quantum mechanics 3”
11:45 – 12:45  Junchen Rong (bootstrap) “Irrational CFTs from coupled anyon chains?”
14:00  Meeting for collaboration members –  room in research center

Friday Aug. 8 – Video here
10:00 – 11:15   Fernando Alday   “Scattering of open and closed strings on AdS”
11:45 – 12:45   Xi Yin  “The unreasonable effectiveness of D-instantons”
14:00  Meeting for collaboration members   –  room in research center

 

 Week 2 (August 11-15):

Monday Aug. 11 (Instituto Principia, Auditório Boulevard)
9:30 – 10:15  Nathan Berkovits “Topological A-model dual to free N=4 super-Yang-Mills”
10:30 – 11:15  Mukund Rangamani “The super Virasoro minimal string”

Tuesday Aug. 12 (Instituto Principia, Auditório Boulevard)
15:00 – 15:45  Pedro Vieira “Some integrability predictions for very quantum strings in AdS5xS5”
16:00 – 16:45  Andrei Mikhailov “Ext groups and deformations of AdS”

Wednesday Aug. 13 (Instituto Principia, Auditório Boulevard)
10:00 – 10:45   Luis Fernando Alday “Discussion of superstring amplitudes on AdS”
11:00 – 11:45  Xi Yin “Comments on matrix string theory”

Thursday Aug. 14 (IFT-UNESP, Sala 2)
15:00 – 15:45  Horatiu Nastase “AdS-CFT for cosmology and holographic cosmology”
16:00 – 16:45  Veronika Hubeny “Repackaging holographic entanglement”

Friday Aug. 15 (Instituto Principia, Domo Theater)
10:00 – 10:45  Jorge Russo “The D^8 R^4 term in ten-dimensional superstring theory”
11:00 – 11:45 Kasia Budzik “Finite N indices and supergroup invariants”

 

Additional Information

Attention! Some participants in ICTP-SAIFR activities have received email from fake travel agencies asking for credit card information. All communication with participants will be made by ICTP-SAIFR staff using an e-mail “@ictp-saifr.org”. We will not send any mailings about accommodation that require a credit card number or any sort of deposit. Also, if you are staying at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista, please confirm with the Uber/Taxi driver that the hotel is located at Rua Pamplona 83 in Bela Vista (and not in Jardim Etelvina).

BOARDING PASS: All participants, whose travel has been provided or will be reimbursed by ICTP-SAIFR, should bring the boarding pass  upon registration. The return boarding pass (PDF, if online check-in, scan or picture, if physical) should be sent to secretary@ictp-saifr.org by e-mail.

Visa information: Nationals from several countries in Latin America and Europe are exempt from tourist visa. Nationals from Australia, Canada and USA will be required to obtain a tourist e-visa for visits after April 10, 2025.

Accommodation: Participants whose accommodations are provided by ICTP-SAIFR will stay at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista. Other hotel recommendations are available here.

Poster presentation: Participants who are presenting a poster MUST BRING A PRINTED BANNER . The banner size should be at most 1 m (width) x 1,5 m (length). We do not accept A4 or A3 paper.