The Virasoro minimal string and 2d string cosmology

Abstract: I will introduce a new critical string theory in two dimensions and explain that this theory, viewed as two-dimensional quantum gravity on the worldsheet, is equivalent to a double-scaled matrix integral. The worldsheet theory consists of Liouville CFT coupled to timelike Liouville CFT. The double-scaled matrix integral has as its leading density of states the universal Cardy density of primaries in a two-dimensional CFT of central charge c, thus motivating the name Virasoro minimal string. The duality holds for any value of the continuous parameter c and reduces to the JT gravity/matrix integral duality in the large central charge limit, providing a precise stringy realization of JT gravity. From a target spacetime point of view, I will describe how this theory may be viewed as a cosmological background in two dimensions.

cosmology and nongalactic astrophysicsgeneral relativity and quantum cosmologyHEP - phenomenologyHEP - theorymathematical physics

Audience: researchers in the discipline

AnLy Strings and Fields online seminars