Sal Pace

4th-year physics PhD student at MIT
Advisor: Xiao-Gang Wen

Email: sdpace4 (at) gmail (dot) com

I'm a theoretical physicist interested in non-perturbative aspects of quantum many-body systems, from quantum field theories to quantum lattice models and condensed matter systems. My research primarily centers around the characterization and classification of quantum phases, which I am currently exploring using (generalized) symmetries and topology. This interdisciplinary approach bridges the frontiers of quantum field theory, condensed matter theory, mathematical physics, and quantum information and provides a powerful organizational principle for various emergent phenomena in quantum many-body systems.

You can see my CV, here, which includes a list of my papers and talks with links to slides and recordings.

You can also find all of my papers on Google Scholar, here.

• Generalizations of the bulk boundary correspondence within the SymTFT framework and applications to classifying gapped and gapless quantum phases.
• Symmetries of lattice fermion models and their connections to 't Hooft anomalies in fermionic quantum field theories.
• How interplays between crystalline and internal symmetries affect quantum criticality and thermodynamic limits through UV/IR mixing.

More broadly, I am interested in:

• All things topological phases of matter and topological quantum field theory.
• 't Hooft anomalies, Lieb-Schultz-Mattis theorems, and their relations.
• Non-invertible symmetries in quantum lattice models.
• Family-anomalies and generalized Thouless pumps in parametrized quantum systems.
• Foliated field theories, tensor gauge theories, and their applications to elasticity and quantum melting.
• Quantum spin liquids and frustrated magnets.
• Applications of higher category and homotopy theory to physics.
• Applications of quantum information theory to quantum many-body systems.

When I am not dreaming about physics and math, you can find me at the closest source of coffee, at the climbing gym dangling from a rope, or in the mosh pit of your nearest punk show (you should check out my favorite paper arXiv:1302.1886!).