String Theory seminar - Yiming Chen [NOTE UNUSUAL TIME: 15:00] Seminar

Abstract: I will discuss the spectral form factor for free large N gauge theory and highly excited strings, a quantity that has attracted much recent attention in the context of black holes. In these simpler systems, after a rapid early decay determined by the continuous density of state, the spectral form factor rises again due to new contributions. In both cases, the spectral form factor can be studied using quantities that have some "geometrical" flavor. In gauge theories, the "geometries" are various eigenvalue distributions of the thermal holonomy; For a gas of string, the "geometries" are various winding modes on the thermal manifold, or more literally, classical solutions like the Horowitz-Polchinski solution. The focus of the talk will be the new "geometries" responsible for the rise of the spectral form factor. Along the way, I will mention some potential connections to the black hole problem. The talk will be based on arXiv:2202.04741.