David Tong: Talks and Presentations

Below is a collection of presentations, essays, conference proceedings and short films.

Community Service

How to Make Sure Your Talk Doesn't Suck PDF (350 kb)

What I Do

Me in the Bath

String Theory in 3 Minutes

Random Radio

Run Like the Wind to Avoid the Rain

Essays. (Well, Essay)

Scientific American Picture by Nick Higgins

Physics and the Integers PostScript PDF
This essay was awarded an FQXI Essay Prize .
A slimmed down version subsequently appeared in Scientific American.
Scientific American also recorded an audio commentary.

Less Popular Presentations

Holographic Dual of the Lowest Landau Level PDF (8 Mb)

Optical Conductivity from a Holographic Lattice PDF (8 Mb)

Two Stories of Magnetic Catalysis PDF (5 Mb)

Monopoles, Lattices and Holography PDF (660 kb)

Inching Towards Strange Metallic Holography PDF (260 kb)

The Partonic Nature of Instantons PDF (250 kb)

Berry Phase and Supersymmetry PDF (450 kb)

Heterotic Vortex Strings PDF (230 kb)

Quantum Vortex Strings PDF (230 kb)

The Flop and the Glop (Topology Change in String Theory) PDF (350 kb)

A Review of Solitons in Gauge Theories PDF (610 kb)

D-Branes in Field Theory PDF (1.0 Mb)

How to Mimic a Cosmic Superstring PDF (2.0 Mb)

Conference Proceedings

The Innards of an Instanton (Shifmania, Minnesota, 2009) PostScript PDF

Open-Closed String Duality in Field Theory? (CAQCD, Minnesota, 2006) PostScript PDF

TASI Lectures on Solitons PostScript PDF

Vortices, Strings and Vortex Strings: (SUSY 2004 Plenary Talk) PostScript PDF

The DBI Model of Inflation: (SUSY 2004 Parallel Talk) PostScript PDF

Talks: 2013

Feb: University of Cambridge, "The Real Number Line is a Good Model for the Physical Continuum"
Feb: University of Oxford, "Gauge Dynamics and Topological Insulators"
Feb: South Bank Centre, London, "General Relativity and the Rise of Nationalism" (Rest is Noise festival)
Jan: City University London, "Uses of String Theory"
Jan: Condensed Matter Journal Club, University of Cambridge, "Basics of Holography"
Jan: Cambridge University Physics Society, "Black Holes, Holograms and Hard Problems"

Talks: 2012

Talking

Dec: Durham, UK "Applied String Theory", Annual Theory Meeting
Dec: IAS, HKUST, Hong Kong, "Black Holes and Optical Conductivity", Asia Pacific Workshop on Condensed Matter
Nov: Cambridge Astronomical Society, "The Higgs and the Cosmological Constant"
Nov: Imperial, London, "V=IR"
Nov: Adams Society, Cambridge, "What Would Newton Do?"
Oct: University of Durham Colloquium, "V=IR"
Oct: Nordita, Stockholm, "Holographic Dual of the Lowest Landau Level", Holographic Way Conference.
Sept: University of Cambridge, "Sine-Gordon Kinks and Landau Levels", NickMantonFest
July: PPAP, STFC Town Meeting, Birmingham, "Formal Theory in the UK"
July: Heraklion, Crete, "Holographic Optical Conductivity"
July: Amsterdam String Workshop, "Holographic Optical Conductivity"
June: Neve Shalom, Israel, "Holographic Magnetic Things"
June: Weizmann Institute, Israel, "Optical Conductivity and Holography"
June: Technion, Haifa, Israel, "Optical Conductivity from a Holographic Lattice"
May: Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, "Optical Conductivity from a Holographic Lattice"
April: Chicheley Hall, "Optical Conductivity from a Holographic Lattice"
March: Trinity College, Cambridge "The Higgs and the Cosmological Constant"

Talks: 2011

Talking

Dec: DESY, Hamburg, "AdS/CFT and Condensed Matter"
Nov: APC, Paris, "Two Stories of Magnetic Catalysis"
Oct: Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge "Black Holes and Holograms"
Sept: KITP, Santa Barbara, California, "Aspects of Holographic Fermions"
Aug: SciFoo, Google, California, "Is the Universe a Computer?"
July: Royal Society, London, "Untangling String Theory"
June: Lorentz Center, Leiden, "Non-Relativistic Holographic Fermions"
May: Nordita, Stockholm, "Lattices, Monopoles and Holography"
May: Hertz Foundation, Cambridge "Is String Theory Useful?"
April: Universita di Milano, "Lattices, Monopoles and Holography"
April: University of Groningen, Quantum Universe Symposium, "Putting String Theory to Work"
April: University of Glasgow, IOP Conference, "Is String Theory Useful?"
March: TIFR, Mumbai, India, "Lattices, Monopoles and Holography"
March: Sidney Sussex, Cambridge, "Is String Theory Useful?"
Feb: Quantum Information Group, Cambridge University, "Is Reality Discrete?"
Jan: Imperial College, "An Overview of AdS/CFT for Condensed Matter"

Talks: 2010

Nov: University of Amsterdam, "Monopoles, Lattices and Holography"
Nov: Archimedeans, Cambridge, "Yang-Mills Theory"
Nov: Nikhef, Amsterdam, "Is String Theory Useful?"
Oct: University of Southampton, "Monopoles, Lattices and Holography"
Oct: Trinity Maths Society, Cambridge "Physics and the Integers"
Oct: Part III Graduation, Cambridge "Is String Theory Useful?"
Oct: MIT, USA "Is String Theory Right or is it Just Useful?", 10th Pappalardo Anniversary Symposium
Sep: Jagiellonian University, Kraców, Poland, "Lectures on Applications of AdS/CFT"
Aug: Oberwoelz, Austria, "AdS/CFT and Condensed Matter"
July: SciFoo, Google, California, "Is String Theory Useful?"
July: Kavli Centre, Chicheley Hall, "Berry Phase and Non-Abelian Monopoles"
June: Universitat de Barcelona, "Inching Towards Strange Metallic Holography"
June: ETH, Zurich, "Conductivity from Lifshitz Geometry"
June: Jussieu-ENS, Paris, "Conductivity from Lifshitz Geometry"
May: Oxford University, "Applied String Theory"
May: Oxford University Physics Society, "What has String Theory Ever Done for Us?"
April: Neve Shalom, Israel, "Inching Towards Strange Metallic Holography"
March: Nordita, Stockholm, "Lectures on Conductivity in AdS/CFT"
Feb: Imperial College, "Inching Towards Strange Metallic Holography"
Jan: University of Cambridge, "Inching Towards Strange Metallic Holography"
Jan: TIFR, Mumbai, India "Inching Towards Strange Metallic Holography"

Talks: 2009

Nov: Trinity College Dublin, MathSoc, "Quantum Geometry"
Oct: Perimeter Institute, Canada "Lectures on Quantum Field Theory"
Oct: Perimeter Institute, Canada, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
July: University of Leeds, "Lectures on Solitons and Supersymmetry"
June: University of Oxford, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
May: University of Minnesota, "The Partonic Nature of Instantons", Shifmania
April: University of Edinburgh, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
April: University of Edinburgh, "Magnetic Monopoles"
April: University of Swansea, "What's Inside an Instanton?"
March: Sissa, Trieste, Italy, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
Feb: University of Cambridge, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
Jan: Queen Mary, University of London, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
Jan: Stokes Society, Pembroke College, Cambridge, "From Quarks to Quantum Gravity"

Talks: 2008

Dec: University of Nottingham, "Quantum Dynamics of Vortex Strings"
Nov: University of Durham, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
Nov: University of Leeds, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
Nov: London Mathematical Society, Pre-AGM Meeting "Quantum Vortex Strings"
Nov: Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
Nov: Imperial College, London, "Holonomy, Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
Oct: University of Cambridge, "Uses of D-Branes", Adams Prize Lecture
Aug: University of Cambridge, "How to Make Sure Your Talk Doesn't Suck", Busstepp
July: IIT, Mumbai, "From Quarks to Quantum Gravity"
July: IISc, Bangalore, "Berry's Phase and Supersymmetry"
July: Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, "Berry's Phase and Supersymmetry"
July: TIFR, Mumbai, "Gauge Dynamics and Vortex Strings"
June: GGI, Florence, "Gauge Dynamics and Vortex Strings" (Strong Coupling Conference)
May: University of Pisa, Dottorato Lectures on "Vortex Strings and Gauge Dynamics"
May: University of Cambridge, "The Theory of M2-Branes?"
April: University of York, "Berry Phase and Supersymmetry"
April: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, "The Theory of M2-Branes"
March: Trinity Hall Natural Sciences Society, Cambridge, "From Quarks to Quantum Gravity"
Jan: University of California at Berkeley, "Berry Phase, Supersymmetry and D-Branes"
Jan: Stanford Linear Accelerator, California, "Berry Phase, Supersymmetry and D-Branes"

Talks: 2007

Nov: Danby Society, Downing College, Cambridge, "From Quarks to Quantum Gravity"
Nov: Kings College, London, "Berry's Phase, Supersymmetry and D-Branes"
Oct: University of Cambridge, "Berry's Phase, Supersymmetry and D-Branes"
Aug: Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, "Berry's Phase and AdS/CFT"
July: University of Pisa, "Berry's Phase and AdS/CFT"
June: University of Colorado, Boulder, "TASI Lectures"
May: Harvard, USA, "2d Sigma Models and 4d Gauge Dynamics"
April: IPM, Tehran, Iran, "Lectures on the Quantum Dynamics of Vortex Strings" (ISS2007)
March: Portsmouth University, "Solitons in Gauge Theories"
March: Durham University, "Solitons in Gauge Theories"
March: CERN, Geneva, "Quantum Vortex Strings"
Feb: Trinity College, Cambridge, "Quantum Geometry: What the String Saw"
Feb: University of Cambridge, "Aspects of Non-Abelian 2d Gauge Dynamics"
Jan: Bariloche, Argentina, "Lectures on D-Branes" (Latin American String School)

Talks: 2006

Oct: Imperial College, London, "The Flop and the Glop"
Aug: University of Cambridge, "The Flop and the Glop", ( Mitchell-Texas Conference)
June: Beijing, China, "Quantum Vortex Strings" (Strings 2006)
June: University of Thessaloniki, "Vortices, Strings and QCD"
May: University of Cincinnati, "Vortices, Strings and QCD"
May: University of Cincinnati, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
May: University of Minneapolis, "D-Branes in Field Theory" (Continuous Advances in QCD)
April: Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, "How to Mimic a Cosmic Superstring" (Cosmology, Strings, and Black Holes)
March: Kings College, London, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
Feb: Dublin Institute for Advanced Study, Ireland, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
Feb: Adams Society, St. Johns College "What We Don't Know: Big Questions in Physics"
Feb: University of Cambridge, "The Cosmological Constant"
Feb: University of Birmingham, "Non-Abelian Vortex Strings"
Feb: University of Wales, Swansea, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
Jan: Neve Shalom, Israel, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
Jan: Weizmann Institute, Israel "How to Mimic a Cosmic Superstring" (group meeting)
Jan: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain, "D-Branes in Field Theory"

Talks: 2005

November: University of Munich, Germany, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
November: University of Cambridge, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
November: University of Nottingham, "How to Mimic a Cosmic Superstring"
October: University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
July: Benasque, Spain, "D-Branes in Field Theory"
June: University of Colorado, Boulder, " TASI lectures on Solitons"
May: Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, "Vortex Strings"
May: University of Southampton, "Vortex Strings"
April: Albert Einstein Institut, Potsdam, Germany, "What I'm working on"
March: Harvard University, USA, "Non-Abelian Cosmic Strings"
March: Spinoza Institute, Utrecht, Netherlands, "Splitting the Conifold Singularity"
March: Durham University, "Splitting the Conifold Singularity"
Feb: Kings College, London, "Splitting the Conifold Singularity"
Jan: Oxford University, "Vortex Strings and Gauge Dynamics"
Jan: Qeshm, Iran, "D-Branes in the Lab"
Jan: Qeshm, Iran, "Vortex Strings and Cosmic Strings"

Talks: 2004

Dec: TIFR, Mumbai, India, "Non-Abelian Vortices"
Dec: Khajuraho, India, "Vortices and Strings and Vortex Strings"
Nov: University of Cambridge, UK, "Vortices, Strings and Vortex Strings"
Nov: University of Cambridge, UK, "Polyakov and Confinement" (Journal club)
Oct: Imperial College, London, "Vortices, Strings and Vortex Strings"
Aug: MIT, USA, "Vortices, Strings, and Vortex Strings"
July: Yukawa Institute, Kyoto, Japan, "Vortices, Strings, and Vortex Strings"
June: Tsukuba, Japan, "Vortex Strings and Gauge Dynamics" (SUSY 2004 Plenary Talk)
June: Tsukuba, Japan, "DBI in the Sky", (SUSY 2004, Parallel Session)
May: Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, "DBI in the Sky"
May: Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada, "Vortices, Instantons, Monopoles and Kinks"
March: Institut Henri Poincare, Paris, France, "Cosmology with a Speed Limit"
March: University of Wales, Swansea, Vortices, Instantons, Monopoles and Kinks" (DIOFest)
March: University of Amsterdam, Netherlands "Vortices, Instantons, Monopoles and Kinks"
March: Texas A&M University, "Cosmology with a Speed Limit"
Feb: Tokyo Institute of Technology, "Solitons and Index Theorems"
Feb: University of Tokyo, Komaba, Japan, "Cosmology with a Speed Limit"
Feb: Tokyo Institute of Technology, "Monopoles in the Higgs Phase"
Feb: Tokyo Institute of Technology, "Vortices, Instantons and Branes"
Feb: Tokyo Insitute of Technology, "Mirror Mirror on the Wall"
Feb: Boston University, USA, "Cosmology with a Speed Limit"
Jan: Yale, USA, "Cosmology with a Speed Limit"

Talks: 2003

Dec: MIT, USA, "Cosmology in a Trabant"
Dec: University of Florida, USA, "Cosmology in a Trabant"
Nov: Brandeis University, USA, "Cosmology in a Trabant"
Nov: Cambridge University, UK, "Vortices in String Theory"
Oct: Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, "Cosmology in a Trabant" (HTGT seminar)
Oct: Stanford Linear Accelerator, USA, "Cosmology in a Trabant"
Oct: University of California at Berkeley, USA, "Cosmology in a Trabant"
Oct: University of California at San Diego, USA, "Vortices in String Theory"
Oct: Caltech, Pasadena, USA, "Vortices in String Theory"
Oct: Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA, "Vortices in String Theory"
Sept: Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, "Vortices in String Theory"
July: Benasque, Spain. Workshop in String Theory, "Vortices in String Theory"
May: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "Does Size Matter?" (Pappalardo Symposium)
April: Harvard, Cambridge, USA, "Mirror Mirror on the Wall"
March: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "The Critical Dimension of String Theory" (Substute string theory lecture)
March: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "Beta Functions and Einstein's Equations" (Substitute string theory lecture)
March: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "A New Topology Changing Transition in M-Theory"
Feb: University of Washington, Seattle, USA "T-Duality and Localization of Branes"
Feb: University of Illinois, Chicago, USA "One String to Rule Them All, One String to Bind Them"

Talks: 2002

Dec: Queen Mary College, London, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons"
Nov: MIT, USA, "Why Big Universes and the Same as Small Universes" (Faculty lunch seminar)
Oct: University of Chicago, USA, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons"
Oct:: University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA, "M-Theory on G_2 and Spin(7) Manifolds"
Oct: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "Superpotentials and Matrix Models"
Sept: Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, "Cosmology, String Theory and Quintessence" (HTGT Seminar)
Sept: Brown University, Providence, USA, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons"
June: Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, "Fractional Instantons" (HTGT Seminar)
May: Universite di Pisa, Italy, "T-Duality and Vortices"
May: University of Sussex, UK, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons"
April: Durham University, UK, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons"
April: Durham University, UK, "G(2) and Spin(7) Holonomy Manifolds in String Theory" (Mathematics Seminar)
April: Newton Institute, Cambridge, UK, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons" (Workshop on M-Theory)
April: Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons" (Student Seminar)
April: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons"
April: University of Minnesota, USA, "Instantons and Vortices and Monopoles and Kinks"
March: Perimeter Institute, Canada, "D-Brane Probes and G(2) Holonomy Manifolds"
March: Perimeter Institute, Canada, "NS5-Branes, T-Duality and Worldsheet Instantons"
March: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "One String to Rule Them All, One String to Bind Them" (Pappalardo Symposium)
Jan: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "From M-Theory to the Real World: the Physics of G(2) Manifolds" (Student Seminar)
Jan: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "From M-Theory to the Real World: the Physics of G(2) Manifolds" (Nuclear and Particle Physics Colloquium)

Talks: 2001

Dec: Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, "Polyakov and Confinement" (HTGT Seminar)
Oct: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "M-Theory Dynamics of Manifolds of G(2) Holonomy"
Sept: KIAS, Seoul, Korea: "Mirror Symmetry and Mirror Symmetry and how They're Related" (Conference on Solitons)
May: Columbia University, New York, USA, "(De)constructing Dimensions" (Journal Club)
April: NYU, New York, USA, "Mirror Symmetry and Mirror Symmetry and How They're Related"
April: SUNY, Stony Brook, USA, "Domain Walls in Sigma Models"
April: Columbia University, New York, USA, "Scattering Theory in Quantum Mechanics" (Substitute Graduate Lecture)
March: Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, "Mirror Symmetry in Three Dimensional Gauge Theories", (Student Seminar)
March: Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, "Mirror Symmetry"

Talks: 2000

Dec: Columbia University, New York, USA, "Mirror Symmetry and Mirror Symmetry and How They're Related"
Nov: Columbia University, New York, USA, "Noncommutative Geometry and Field Theory" (Journal Club: 3 hours of lectures)
Sept: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "Dynamics of BPS Domain Walls"
July: TIFR, Mumbai, India, "Mirror Symmetry in Chern-Simons Theories"
April: MIT, Cambridge, USA, "Mirror Symmetry in 3D Gauge Theories"
March: University of Cambridge, UK, "Mirror Symmetry in Chern-Simons Theories" (TMR conference on string theory)
March: University of Wales, Swansea, UK, "Mirror Symmetry in Three-Dimensional Gauge Theories"
Feb: Imperial College, London, UK, "Mirror Symmetry in Chern-Simons Theories"
Feb: Queen Mary College, London, UK, "Mirror Symmetry in Chern-Simons Theories"
Jan: Kings College, London, UK, "Instantons in Noncommutative Gauge Theories" (Journal club)
Jan: Kings College, London, UK, "Reflections on Mirror Symmetry"
Jan: Kings College, London, UK, "Supersymmetry and String Theory", (11 lecture course for both graduates and undergraduates)

Talks: 1999

Dec: KIAS, Seoul, Korea, "Mirror Symmetry in Three Dimensional Gauge Theories"
Dec: KIAS, Seoul, Korea, "Instantons in the AdS/CFT Correspondence'', (a 4.5 hour lecture series)
Dec: Seoul National University, Korea, "Mirror Symmetry in Three Dimensional Gauge Theories'' (a 3 hour lecture series)
Nov: Mehta Research Institute, Allahabad, India, "Instantons in the AdS/CFT Correspondence'' (an 11 hour lecture series)
Sept: ICTP, Trieste, Italy, ``The Spectrum of Five Dimensional Gauge Theories'' (Conference on Non-Perturbative Effects)
Sept: University of Edinburgh, UK, "The Spectrum of Five Dimensional Gauge Theories" (Workshop on Monopoles)
Aug: University of Washington, Seattle, USA, "Introduction to Branes in String Theory" (Journal Club)
May: University of Southampton, UK, "The BPS Spectra of Gauge Theories in 2 and 4 Dimensions"
May: Kings College, London, UK, "The BPS Spectra of Gauge Theories in 2 and 4 Dimensions"
Jan: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, "Aspects of Supersymmetric Gauge Theories" (4 hour lecture series)

Talks: 1998

Dec: Puri, India, ``The Spectrum of Gauge Theories in Two and Four Dimension" (workshop on QFT and Strings)
Dec: Mehta Research Institute, Allahabad, India, "The Spectrum of Gauge Theories in Two and Four Dimension"
Sept: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, "Three-Dimensional Gauge Theories and Monopole Moduli Spaces"
Jan: University of Washington, Seattle, USA, "Three-Dimensional Gauge Theories and Monopole Moduli Spaces"

Talks: 1997

Dec: University of Sussex, UK, "Three-Dimensional Gauge Theories and Monopole Moduli Spaces"
Nov: University of Durham, UK, "Three-Dimensional Gauge Theories and Monopole Moduli Spaces"
Nov: University of Cambridge, UK, "Three-Dimensional Gauge Theories and Monopole Moduli Spaces"
Oct: University of Southampton, UK, "Three-Dimensional Gauge Theories and Monopole Moduli Spaces"
Oct: University of Wales, Swansea, UK, "Three-Dimensional Gauge Theories and Monopole Moduli Spaces"