High Energy Physics Seminars next week - Chala, Lin and Berghaus - venue: Euler LH

[HECAP - Margherita Di Giovannantonio]

*_HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS SEMINARS_*
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*Tuesday, 28 April *2026, at *16:00* - *_Euler Lecture 
Hall_***-***https://indico.ictp.it/event/11266/* 
<https://indico.ictp.it/event/11266/>


Mikael Chala (University of Granada)


*“Effective Field Theory for Thermal Phase Transitions "*
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_Abstract_

I will present recent progress in applying effective field theory (EFT) 
to the precise computation of thermal phase transition parameters and 
the associated gravitational wave spectra. If time permits, I will also 
comment on byproducts of this work, including new methods for two-loop 
renormalization in EFT and skyrmion degrees of freedom emerging only at 
finite temperature..

To attend via _*Zoom*_, please *_register_* here:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/hN9qizlTTMm8K99Kb7mtDA


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*Wednesday, 29 April *2026, at *16:00* - *_Euler Lecture 
Hall_***-*https://indico.ictp.it/event/11265/*

Ling Lin (University of Bologna)


*“SymTFTs with Interfaces in Geometric Engineering "*
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_Abstract_

The Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) is a powerful framework 
to encode symmetries, anomalies, and global structures of quantum field 
theories. In this talk I will first review its standard construction in 
M-theory geometric engineering on non-compact manifolds with 
torsion-free (co-)homologies. I will then show that in models with 
torsion, the corresponding SymTFTs have interfaces which prevents 
certain defects from ending on the physical boundary — a configuration 
also known as the “club sandwich” in the literature. Finally, I will use 
dualities to argue that such interfaces exist in SymTFTs of so-called 
“frozen” 7d M-theory compactifications, and of 8d IIB/F-theory models 
with O7+ planes.

To attend via _*Zoom*_, please *_register_* here:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/jHP4IJwpSBquEX9camdnFQ


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*Thursday, 30 April *2026, at *16:00* - *_Euler Lecture 
Hall_***-*https://indico.ictp.it/event/11303/*

Kim Berghaus (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)


*“Warm Inflation with the Standard Model"*
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_Abstract_

In recent work we showed that the strong nuclear force of the Standard 
Model may have generated the heat of the hot Big Bang itself. It is 
widely believed that cosmic inflation, the era of accelerated expansion 
in the infant universe, occurred while the cosmos was cold and empty, 
requiring some unknown process to subsequently generate the hot plasma 
we observe. Our work demonstrates that the early universe may have 
instead been immersed in a hot bath of known elementary particles during 
inflation. The proposed mechanism couples gluons, which mediate the 
strong force in atomic nuclei, with an axion-like particle that drives 
inflation. This coupling induces friction that provides the energy to 
heat the inflating universe. In this talk, I will show that “warm 
inflation” (a hypothesis first proposed in 1995) is viable using 
Standard Model particles and yields testable predictions for upcoming 
observations. Implications for strong CP and dark matter will be discussed.

To attend via _*Zoom*_, please *_register_* here:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/bmbF1j-5TZCpeXLSUonyQg