Title: Cosmological Correlators with Strongly-coupled Exchange

Speaker: Chen Yang (Scuola Normale Superiore)

Time: 1:30 pm, Sept 12 (Thursday) 2024

Venue: Physics Building W105

Abstract: I will discuss primordial universe scenarios where the inflaton is weakly coupled to a strongly-self-interacting theory, and study the imprints in cosmological correlators. There are three general scenarios for the strongly coupled sector based on its mass gap in Hubble units. I will focus on the gapless scenario, which I fully solved, and will discuss two approaches to computing its correlators: the Cosmological Bootstrap and Mellin-Barnes integration. Finally, I will compare the signals to weakly coupled scenarios and comment on the potential to distinguish them.

Bio: I’m currently a PhD student in the theoretical high-energy physics group at Scuola Normale. Previously I graduated from Fudan University in 2020 and obtained my master’s degree from the University of Amsterdam in 2022. My current research interest lies in de Sitter physics with possible applications of holography, in both mathematical and phenomenological aspects.