Publications

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• Lecture notes on normalizing flows for lattice quantum field theories

  Miranda C. N. Cheng, Niki Stratikopoulou

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 110 (2026) · published 7 January 2026 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Numerical simulations of quantum field theories on lattices serve as a fundamental tool for studying the non-perturbative regime of the theories, where analytic tools often fall short. Challenges arise when one takes the continuum limit or as the system approaches a critical point, especially in the presence of non-trivial topological structures in the theory. Rapid recent advances in machine learning provide a promising avenue for progress in this area. These lecture notes aim to give a brief account of lattice field theories, normalizing flows, and how the latter can be applied to study the former. The notes are based on the lectures given by the first author in various recent research schools.

• A short introduction to cosmology and its current status

  Pedro G. Ferreira, Alexander Roskill

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 109 (2025) · published 24 December 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The current cosmological model, known as the $\Lambda$-Cold Dark Matter model (or $\Lambda$CDM for short) is one of the most astonishing accomplishments of contemporary theoretical physics. It is a well-defined mathematical model which depends on very few ingredients and parameters and is able to make a range of predictions and postdictions with astonishing accuracy. It is built out of well-known physics – general relativity, quantum mechanics and atomic physics, statistical mechanics and thermodynamics – and predicts the existence of new, unseen components. Again and again it has been shown to fit new data sets with remarkable precision. Despite these successes, we have yet to understand the unseen components of the Universe and there has been evidence for inconsistencies in the model. In these lectures, we lay the foundations of modern cosmology.

• The Higgs mechanism with diagrams: A didactic approach

  Jochem Kip, Ronald Kleiss

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 88 (2024) · published 14 October 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a paedagogical treatment of the electroweak Higgs mechanism based solely on Feynman diagrams and S-matrix elements, without recourse to (gauge) symmetry arguments. Throughout, the emphasis is on Feynman rules and the Schwinger-Dyson equations; it is pointed out that particular care is needed in the treatment of tadpole diagrams and their symmetry factors.

• Les Houches lecture notes on moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces

  Alessandro Giacchetto, Danilo Lewański

  SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 111 (2026) · published 22 January 2026 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In these lecture notes, we provide an introduction to the moduli space of Riemann surfaces, a fundamental concept in the theories of 2D quantum gravity, topological string theory, and matrix models. We begin by reviewing some basic results concerning the recursive boundary structure of the moduli space and the associated cohomology theory. We then present Witten's celebrated conjecture and its generalisation, framing it as a recursive computation of cohomological field theory correlators via topological recursion. We conclude with a discussion of JT gravity in relation to hyperbolic geometry and topological strings.