Sal Pace

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

Email: sdpace4 (at) gmail (dot) com

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

You can see my CV, here.

I'm a theoretical physicist interested in formal aspects of quantum field theories and quantum lattice models with applications to condensed matter physics. The primary goals of my research are to understand better (1) what possible universal phenomena, phases, and phase transitions can emerge in quantum many-body systems and (2) how such emergent, macroscopic phenomena can depend on microscopic details. I am approaching these questions using various aspects of (generalized) symmetries and topology, and am currently working on:

(1) the interplay between spacetime and internal (generalized) symmetries (e.g., modulated symmetries and LSM anomalies) and its applications in elasticity to emergent gravity,
(2) generalizations of the bulk boundary correspondence using topological holography (i.e., the SymTFT) and its applications in classifying gapped and gapless phases of matter.
(3) non-invertible and higher-categorical symmetries in Hamiltonian lattice models with a tensor product Hilbert space.

More broadly, I am interested in

(1) all things topological phases of matter, from topological orders to SETs to SPTs. Anything whose low energy effective theory is described by something without rulers and clocks - a topological (quantum) field theory,
(2) UV/IR mixing, both with and without fractons, and its relationship to foliated field theory and tensor gauge theory
(3) Applications of tensor gauge theories to emergent gravity, elasticity and quantum melting, and symmetry enriched topological orders,
(4) quantum spin liquids and frustrated magnets,
(5) applications of higher category and homotopy theory to physics,
(6) Applying ideas from quantum information theory to quantum lattice models and quantum field theory.

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!).