Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) are perhaps the most ubiquitous quantum field theories as they describe phase transitions and critical points in a wide range of systems from condensed matter and elementary particle physics to cosmology. Moreover, in recent decades AdS/CFT correspondence has cemented the deep relevance of CFTs to quantum gravity through holography.
Much of the recent work and progress in CFTs has been at zero temperature and it is highly desirable to extend this to finite temperature/finite size systems. This is not only dictated by the obvious relevance of finite temperature systems to the real world, but also by important theoretical questions. This includes fundamental issues regarding the thermalisation process of quantum systems, the holographic description of black holes in terms of finite temperature CFTs, and the intriguing relationship between thermal CFT partition functions and modular functions. Although disparate at first sight, these areas are converging to a common theme involving the study of thermal CFT correlation functions.
The aim of this workshop is to bring together experts working on the different research directions mentioned above, and to make concrete progress on a number of important scientific questions, such as:
- Eigenstate thermalisation hypothesis in d=2 and d>2;
- Thermal CFT correlators and black holes via holography;
- Deconstructing finite temperature correlators;
- Thermal CFT partition functions in d=2 and d>2, modular properties and string theory.
