One of the great side effects of my work is that it allows me to travel frequently and meet many inspiring people. I keep a record of all the places I have visited yet on this page. Additionally, you can find the slides or notes of my recent talks here.

## Invited talks at conferences and workshops

1.
"Poisson-Lie T-duality, Integrability and Qauntum Corrections", based on [5,4,3], abstract

Poisson-Lie groups emerge naturally in the classical limit of quantum groups. Besides their important role in mathematics, they are also central to the phenomena of T-duality in physics. Originally, T-duality arises in the context of string theory but over that last decade it has also become an essential tool to study integrable two-dimensional $\sigma$-models. While this approach works very well in the classical regime, we only started to understand its implications for quantum corrections last year. After giving an introduction to Poisson-Lie T-duality and integrable $\sigma$-models, I will discuss these recent developments and their implications.

2.
Integrability, dualities and deformations, 30th March - 3rd April2020, Hospedería San Martín Pinario, Santiago de Compostela, Spain canceled
3.
AMS Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting, 13th - 15th March 2020, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA canceled
4.
"Consistent Truncations and Dualities", based on [6], slides, abstract

Southwest Strings Meeting 2020, 14th - 15th February 2020, Department of Physics, Utah State University, Logan, USA

5.
"The Many Facets of Poisson-Lie T-duality", based on [9,10], slides, abstract

Poisson-Lie T-duality was originally introduced to identify the dynamics of closed strings probing different target spaces. But nowadays it also has become a crucial ingredient in the construction of integrable, two-dimensional $\sigma$-models. After reviewing this intriguing connection from a worldsheet perspective, I will switch to the target space. There we are going to see that Poisson-Lie T-duality naturally appears in the context of gauged SUGRAs and consistent truncations which help to construct new AdS vacua.

Integrability, duality and beyond , 3rd - 5th June 2019, Facultade de Física, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

6.
"Poisson-Lie Symmetry and Double Field Theory" (two one hour review talks), based on [10,13,15,20,21], slides, abstract

Both constituents of my title are well established areas of research with a wide range of applications. Unfortunately, in the current standard formulation of DFT only the tiny subset of PL symmetry which gives rise to abelian T-duality is manifest. In my talk, I present an altered DFT version, DFT on group manifolds, which make the full PL symmetry manifest. We discuss both the NS/NS and R/R sector of the theory. Later allows us to derive the transformation rules for R/R field strengths under full PL T-duality for the first time. If time permits, I will also comment on applications in integral deformations and the extension of the framework to also capture dressing cosets.

"String: T-duality, Integrability and Geometry", 4th - 8th March 2019, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

7.
"Poisson-Lie T-Duality in Double Field Theory", based on [13,10], slides, abstract

A formulation of Double Field Theory is presented which makes Poisson-Lie T-duality manifest. It allows to identify the doubled space with a Drinfeld double and provides a powerful tool to extract the transformation of the metric, B-field, dilaton and R/R potentials under Poisson-Lie T-duality.

Fundamental Interactions, Geometry and Topology., 25th October 2018, University of Naples Federico II, Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini", Italy

8.
"Taking Advantage of Poisson-Lie Symmetry", based on [13,10], slides, abstract

Dualities and Generalized Geometries, 10th - 15th September 2018, Corfu, Greece

9.

10.
"Integrability, Poisson-Lie Symmetry and Double Field Theory", based on [13,20], slides, abstract

I review how integrability allows us to explore the planar limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence for arbitrary values of the t'Hooft coupling. In string theory integrability of the 2D $\sigma$-model is closely related to Poisson-Lie Symmetry. Double Field Theory can be used to make this symmetry manifest and therewith provides a new tool to study the implications for the gravity side of the correspondence.

11.
"Poisson-Lie T-Duality in Double Field Theory", based on [13,20], slides, abstract

A formulation of Double Field Theory is presented which makes Poisson-Lie T-duality manifest. It allows to identify the doubled space with a Drinfeld double and provides a powerful tool to extract the transformation of the metric, $B$-field, dilaton and R/R potentials under Poisson-Lie T-duality.

String Dualities and Geometry, 15th - 19th January 2018, Centro Atomico Bariloche, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

12.
"Surprisingly Complex Punctures from a Dynamical System" (short version), based on [12], slides, abstract

Theories of class S are 4D N=2 SCFTs which result from the compactification of 6D N=(2,0) SCFTs on punctured Riemann surfaces. They provide a geometric perspective on S-duality and are essential in the AGT correspondence. I will present the first step in extending this construction to N=1. To this end, we discuss the punctures relevant in the compactification of the world-volume theory of M5-branes probing an ADE-singularity. They are closely related to the time evolution of a dynamical system and exhibit a surprisingly rice and complex structure compared to N=2.

String Pheno 2017, 3rd - 7th July 2017, Virgina Tech, Blacksburg, USA

13.
"Extended Space for (half) Maximally Supersymmetric Theories", based on [14,15], slides, abstract

Recent Advances in T/U-dualities and Generalized Geometries, 6th - 9th June 2017, Rudjer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia

14.
"Surprisingly Complex Punctures from a Dynamical System" (long version), based on [12], slides, abstract

Theories of class S are 4D N=2 SCFTs which result from the compactification of 6D N=(2,0) SCFTs on punctured Riemann surfaces. They provide a geometric perspective on S-duality and are essential in the AGT correspondence. I will present the first step in extending this construction to N=1. To this end, we discuss the punctures relevant in the compactification of the world-volume theory of M5-branes probing an ADE-singularity. They are closely related to the time evolution of a dynamical system and exhibit a surprisingly rich and complex structure compared to N=2.

17th southeastern regional mathematical string theory meeting, 8th April 2017, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

15.
"Generalized Parallelizable Spaces from Exceptional Group Manifolds", based on [14,17], slides, abstract

Generalized Geometry & T-dualities, 9th - 13th May 2016, Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook, USA

16.
"Double Field Theory on Group Manifolds", based on [19,20,21], slides, abstract

17.
"String Geometry Beyond the Torus", based on [21], slides, abstract

Besides propagating in target space like a point particle, a closed string is also able to wind around non-contractible circles. A direct consequence thereof is T-duality. In the textbook example, it identifies the closed string dynamics on a large and a small circle by interchanging its winding and momentum modes. Patching a background by such dualities clearly goes beyond the notion of conventional geometry. However, there are extensive efforts to embed them into a framework called string geometry. It provides access to a vast number of new backgrounds with intriguing phenomenology, like e.g. the possibility to obtain de Sitter vacua. Double Field Theory (DFT) is the most promising approach to describe these backgrounds and their properties. But still, it is closely related to the torus. I will present a theory based on Closed String Field theory starting from a Wess-Zumino-Witten model which goes beyond the torus. It plays an important role in clarifying the recent confusion about different constraints in DFT. Furthermore it allows to uplift a large class of new backgrounds to string theory. These backgrounds are not T-dual to any geometric ones.

12th southeastern regional mathematical string theory meeting, 25th October 2014, Duke University, Durham, USA

18.
"DFT Beyond the Torus", based on [21], abstract

Workshop "Frontiers in String Phenomenology'', 28th July - 1st August2014, Ringberg Castle, Tegernsee, Germany

19.
"Consistent Compactification of Double Field Theory on Non-Geometric Backgrounds", based on [22,23], slides, abstract

Bayrischzell Workshop 2014 on quantized geometry and physics, 23rd - 26th May 2014, Bayrischzell, Germany

20.
"Stringy Geometries in the Context of Double Field Theory", based on [23], slides, abstract

Science Week 2013, 2nd - 5th December 2013, Max-Planck Institut for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany

21.
"Non-commutative IIA and IIB geometries from Q-branes and their intersection", based on [25], slides, abstract

## Invited seminar talks

22.
"$\alpha'$-corrections and Generalised Dualities", based on [5,4], abstract blackboard

Higher derivative corrections in gravity and gauge theories are key to approach some of the big questions in theoretical physics, like the evolution of the universe or the resolution of black hole singularities. I explain why they are so important but also why they are very hard to obtain. Dualities, which for example arise naturally in string theory, have recently provided a powerful tool to get a better handle on these corrections. Unfortunately the most well understood duality in this context, abelian T-duality, is very restrictive. There is the more versatile framework of generalised T-dualities with a wide range of applications, but its relevance for higher derivative corrections just started to emerge last year. We discuss these new developments and point out some of their applications.

ExFT Journal Club, 18th May 2021 virtual

23.
"O($D$,$D$)-covariant $\beta$-functions", based on [4,3], slides, abstract

Symmetries play a central role in theoretical physics. But, we have to understand how they are realized in order to benefit from them in calculations. An interesting example along this line is a large class of two-dimensional quantum field theories, called $\sigma$-models. I will show that they exhibit a hidden, continues symmetry which is governed by the Lie group O($D$,$D$). It tightly constrains both, the classical and the quantum regime of these models. As an example, I will demonstrate how it affects the one- and two-loop $\beta$-functions. The resulting insights are indispensable to compute the RG flows of integrable $\sigma$-models.

Mathematical Physics seminar, 22nd January 2021, University of York, York, UK virtual

24.
"One- and two-loop RG flows of integrable E-models", based on [3,4], abstract blackboard

Abstract: There is an intriguing connection between integrable $\sigma$-models and Poisson-Lie (PL) symmetry. As I will review, the latter is manifest in the $\mathcal{E}$-model, rendering it a powerful tool to construct a variety of integrable models which recently have been identified with surface defects in 4d Chern-Simons theory. Manifest PL symmetry facilitates computations which would be forbiddingly complex without it. Important examples, which I will discuss in detail, are one and two-loop beta-functions. We will see that they underpin a deep connection between classical integrability and the corresponding quantum regime.

25.
"Quantum corrections for generalised T-dualities", based on [4], slides, abstract

S- and (abelian) T-duality play a central role in string theory, but their scope is limited to highly constrained spacetimes. Generalised T-dualities, which include non-abelian and Poisson-Lie T-duality, apply to a significantly larger class of target spaces with a wide range of applications. Classically they are on an equal footing with abelian T-duality, but their quantum corrections are much more mysterious and mostly unexplored. I will review the main problems which have to be solved to make progress in this direction. Afterwards, I demonstrate how recently explored connections between generalised T-dualities, double field theory, and consistent truncations allow to prove that two-loop RG flows are preserved under these dualities. We will discuss the implications of this result and emphasise how the intriguing mathematical structures that govern all the current\ applications influence quantum corrections in a highly non-trivial way.

Exceptional Geometry Seminar Series, 2nd October 2020 virtual

26.
High Energy Physics Theory Group Seminar, 24th March 2020, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain canceled
27.
"Generalised T-dualities, Integrable $\sigma$-models and Supergravity", based on [13,10,9,7], abstract blackboard

Abelian T-duality is well appreciated among string theorists. But it forms only a very small part of a much larger family of generalised T-dualities which however attracted much less attention until recently. The main reason for their marginalization is that in contrast to abelian T-duality they are not a symmetry of full string theory, i.e. they do not hold for the full $\alpha’$ and $g_s$ expansion. Still they turned out to be essential in the recent quest for integrable $\sigma$-modes and also in the construction of explicit solutions to supergravity. Thus, I want to present you the idea behind generalised T-dualities on the worldsheet and show how they are connected to integrability and supergravity.

High-Energy Theory Seminar, 13th January 2020, Mitchell Institute, Texas A&M, College Station, USA

28.

29.
"Generalised Quotients", based on [7], abstract blackboard

Generalised Scherk-Schwarz reductions are a powerful tool to construct consistent truncations in Double and Exceptional Field Theories. Recently, it turned out that they are also closely related to Poisson-Lie T-duality. However, the most general form of Poisson-Lie T-duality, the dressing coset construction, can not be implemented in terms of a generalised Scherk-Schwarz ansatz. I will show that implementing it in generalised geometry leads to a natural extension of the generalised Scherk-Schwarz ansatz which comes with many new features: 1) Partial or full breaking of SUSY which allows to find many new examples of generalised KÃ¤hler or Calabi-Yau Manifolds. 2) Singular backgrounds with localised sources. 3) Localised vector multiplets while still resulting in consistent truncations.

• Group Seminar, 19th December 2019, Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Munich, Germany
• CRST Seminar, 11th December 2019, Centre for Research in String Theory (CRST), Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

30.

34.
"Poisson-Lie T-Duality in Double Field Theory" (with DFT introduction), based on [13], slides, abstract

A formulation of Double Field Theory is presented which makes Poisson-Lie T-duality manifest. It allows to identify the doubled space with a Drinfeld double and provides a powerful tool to extract the transformation of the metric, B-field, dilaton and R/R potentials under Poisson-Lie T-duality.

31.

35.
"Integrability, Poisson-Lie Symmetry and Double Field Theory", based on [13,20,10], slides, abstract

I review how integrability allows us to explore the planar limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence for arbitrary values of the t'Hooft coupling. In string theory integrability of the 2D $\sigma$-model is closely related to Poisson-Lie Symmetry. Double Field Theory can be used to make this symmetry manifest and therewith provides a new tool to study the implications for the gravity side of the correspondence.

36.
"Double Field Theory", slides, abstract

String theory's secret in approaching an UV complete theory of gravity is the transition from point particles to extended objects. A direct consequence is the emergence of dualities, like T-, S- and U-duality. They have numerous applications and are essential for studying string theory, but for me the most intriguing question is: "Can they teach us more about (quantum) gravity?". My talk gives a short introduction to double / exceptional field theory, a framework which is exactly motivated by this question. Instead of presenting all the formal details, I will try to focus on the underlying ideas and important applications, like the construction of new flux vacua or consistent truncations of supergravity. Finally, I explain some open questions which are currently under active research and motivate why their answers could also be beneficial for other research areas, like the gauge gravity correspondence.

OIST Seminar, 9th January 2018, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan

37.
"Poisson-Lie T-duality in Double Field Theory", based on [13], slides, abstract

Poisson-Lie T-duality is a generalization of traditional non-abelian T-duality and enjoys, at least at the classical level, all features of abelian T-duality. Recently, it got a lot of attention in the context of integrable $\eta$- and $\lambda$-deformations. I review this intriguing framework, outline its applications and show that it naturally admits a double field theory description. Latter has many applications in the realm of abelian T-duality but did not really touch Poisson-Lie T-duality until now. I present an extension of the current double field theory formulation which makes Poisson-Lie T-duality manifest. It gives rise to various new applications and also introduces powerful new mathematical structures, like Drinfeld doubles and quantum groups, in the theory.

YITP Seminar, 9th November 2017, C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook, USA

38.

40.
"Generalized Parallelizable Spaces, Consistent Truncations and Dualities", based on [13,14], slides, abstract

While only three spheres, $S^1$, $S^3$ and $S^7$, are parallelizable, it was recently shown that all spheres are generalized parallelizable. In addition to its beautiful mathematical structure, this extended notion of parallelizability allows to identify certain maximal gauged supergravities as consistent truncations of 10/11D supergravity. In this talk, I present the first systematic construction of generalized parallelize spaces and demonstrate how this string theory inspired concept captures T-duality in a natural way.

41.
"Double Field Theory - Double Fun?", based on [19,20,21], slides, abstract

Dualities are at the heart of string theory. They identify closed string theories in different target spaces (T-duality) and at inverse values of the string coupling (S-duality). To exploit their full potential, it would be great to make them manifest already at the level of the low energy effective action. Double Field Theory (DFT) exactly follows this idea for T-duality on a torus. Incorporating also S-duality in this framework, Exceptional Field Theory (EFT) is born. I review these two approaches and show how they are expect to give new insights in subject like flux compactifications, moduli stabilization and cosmology. I emphasize their weak spots and present my humble contribution to deal with some of these problems.

ISCAP Seminar, 3rd March 2016, Columbia University, New York, USA

42.
"Exploring Stringy Geometries with Double Field Theory", based on [19,20,21], slides, abstract

Only a fraction of the vast landscape of vacua in string theory is accessible from supergravity. Stringy geometries, whose properties are governed by the extended nature of the string, are beyond its scope. Double Field Theory (DFT), which makes T-duality on tori manifest at the level of an effective field theory, provides a convenient tool to explore vacua beyond the supergravity regime. Despite the substantial progresses made in this direction, there are still open questions and technical ambiguities. Some of them can be solved by extending the derivation of DFT from a torus to more general non-abelian group manifolds. After a short review of the existing formalism, I derive such a theory, called DFT$_{\mathrm{WZW}}$, using Closed String Field Theory applied to Wess-Zumino-Witten models. Further, I discuss its connection to half maximal gauged supergravities in lower dimensions. Even for those of them who can not be generated by a supergravity compactification, DFT$_{\mathrm{WZW}}$ provides a higher dimensional origin.

High-Energy Theory Seminar, 19th October 2015, Mitchell Institute, Texas A&M, College Station, USA

43.

50.
"String Geometry Beyond the Torus", based on [21], slides, abstract

Besides propagating in target space like a point particle, a closed string is also able to wind around non-contractible circles. A direct consequence thereof is T-duality. In the textbook example, it identifies the closed string dynamics on a large and a small circle by interchanging its winding and momentum modes. Patching a background by such dualities clearly goes beyond the notion of conventional geometry. However, there are extensive efforts to embed them into a framework called string geometry. It provides access to a vast number of new backgrounds with intriguing phenomenology, like e.g. the possibility to obtain de Sitter vacua. Double Field Theory (DFT) is the most promising approach to describe these backgrounds and their properties. But still, it is closely related to the torus. I will present a theory based on Closed String Field theory starting from a Wess-Zumino-Witten model which goes beyond the torus. It plays an important role in clarifying the recent confusion about different constraints in DFT. Furthermore it allows to uplift a large class of new backgrounds to string theory. These backgrounds are not T-dual to any geometric ones.

## Other conferences, workshops and schools attended

51.
Integrability, Dualities and Deformations (conference), 30th August - 3rd September2021, Hospedería San Martín Pinario, Santiago de Compostela, Spain virtual
52.
Intergrability, Dualities and Deformations (school), 23rd - 27th August 2021, Hospedería San Martín Pinario, Santiago de Compostela, Spain virtual
53.
Junior Duality and Integrability Workshop, 16th - 18th February 2021 virtual
54.
Integrable effective field theories and their holographic descriptions, 16th - 18th December 2019, Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics, Florence, Italy
55.
Geometry and Duality, 2nd - 6th December 2019, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), Potsdam, Germany
56.
Holography, Generalied Geometry and Duality , 6th - 10th May 2019, Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Mainz, Germany
57.
20 Years Later: The Many Faces of AdS/CFT, 31st October 2017, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
58.
18th southeastern regional mathematical string theory meeting, 7th October 2017, Virgina Tech, Blacksburg, USA
59.
SFT@HIT, 23rd - 25th June 2017, Holon Institute of Technology, Holon, Israel
60.
Pre-Strings 2017: Advanced Strings School, 18th - 22nd June 2017, Technion, Haifa, Israel
61.
Physics and Geometry of F-Theory 2017, 27th February - 2nd March2017, ICTP, Trieste, Italy
62.
16th southeastern regional mathematical string theory meeting, 13th - 14th November 2016, NC State Universtiy, Raleigh, USA
63.
15th southeastern regional mathematical string theory meeting, 23rd April 2016, Virgina Tech, Blacksburg, USA
64.
Symposium on Quantum Fields and Strings, 1st April 2016, The Graduate Center, New York, USA
65.
F-Theory at 20, 22nd - 26th February 2016, Burke Institute, Caltech, Pasadena, USA
66.
Symposium on Quantum Fields and Strings, 4th December 2015, The Graduate Center, New York, USA
67.
Physics and Geometry of F‑Theory 2015, 23rd - 26th February 2015, Max Planck Institute for Physics Munich, Germany
68.
2014 Arnold Sommerfeld School on ''Strings and fundamental physics'', 11th - 22nd August 2014, Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Munich, Germany
70.
Workshop on Noncommutative Field Theory and Gravity, 8th September 2013, Mon-Repos, Corfu, Greece
71.
IMPRS Young Scientist Workshop at Ringberg Castle, 22nd - 26th July 2013, Ringberg Castle, Tegernsee, Germany
72.
2007 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC), 29th October - 1st November2007, Pestana Bahia Hotel, Salvador, Brazil

## Oh, the Places You'll Go!

I could not resist putting pins on the map for all the places I have visited.

## Traveling

As an aviation enthusiast, I try to leave planes as one of the last passengers and get a peek in the cockpit if possible. Usually, the pilots I met are very nice and take the time to chat about aviation and live in general. For example, I met a guy who got a PhD in biochemistry before he started to fly commercial airliners. On Ryanair Air flight FR 2834 from Barcelona to Brussels, I was allowed to take the caption's seat of a Boing 737-800.