UK-Japan Workshop on Quantum Gravity 2026

Europe/London
Scott Logic Lecture Theatre - MCS0001 (Durham University, Department of Mathematical Sciences)

Scott Logic Lecture Theatre - MCS0001

Durham University, Department of Mathematical Sciences

Mathematical Sciences & Computer Science Building Durham University Upper Mountjoy Campus Stockton Road Durham University DH1 3LE
Daniele Dorigoni, Hiromi Ebisu (Riken, iTHEMS), Tobias Hansen (Durham University), Masazumi Honda (RIKEN iTHEMS / Saitama University)
Description

The universe at extremely early times is expected to be described by some theory of quantum gravity, although we still do not know precisely what quantum gravity actually is.

In modern approaches to quantum gravity, the path integral point of view provides a fundamental framework towards answering this pressing question. However, an evaluation or even just a precise definition of the path-integral for a full-fledged quantum gravity is one of the most important open problems in modern theoretical physics. 

With the "UK-Japan Workshop on Quantum Gravity 2026" we want to bring together experts working on different aspects of the gravitational path-integral, such as

  • Gravitational Scattering Amplitudes;
  • Complex Geometries and Exact WKB;
  • Quantum Cosmology;
  • Exact Methods and Resurgence Analysis;

with the long-term goal of providing innovative ways of tackling modern problems in quantum gravity.

This workshop is the second event sponsored by the Royal Society International Collaboration Award Grant "Re-PaInt: A Resurgence Path-Integral approach to quantum gravity" shared between Masazumi Honda at Riken iTHEMS and Daniele Dorigoni at Durham University, and aimed at fostering and developing an international partnership between the two institutes, as well as the greater Japan and UK theoretical physics communities working on quantum gravity, broadly intended. The page for the 2025 meeting held at the Riken campus in Kobe can be found here .

Poster Image Credit: Alessia Dorigoni & Andrea Degasperi


Confirmed Speakers:

  • Francesco Aprile (Universidad Complutense Madrid)
  • David Broadhurst 
  • Ioana Coman (University of Edinburgh)
  • Hiromi Ebisu (Riken)
  • Laura Engelbrecht (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa)
  • Yasuyuki Hatsuda (Rikkyo U.)
  • Adolfo Holguin (Trinity College Dublin)
  • Kohtaro Kato (Nagoya U.)
  • Paul MacFadden (Durham U.)
  • Tatsuhiro Misumi (Kindai U.)
  • Masamichi Miyaji (Riken)
  • Yuya Murakami (Riken)
  • Silvia Nagy (Durham U.)
  • Ana-Maria Raclariu (King's College)
  • Rodolfo Russo (QMUL)
  • Yuya Tanizaki (Kyoto U.)
  • Congkao Wen (QMUL)
  • Han Yan (Tokyou U.)

Registration:

Registration is open to anyone (not just researchers from Japan or UK). There will be a poster session and we encourage students and early career researchers to present a poster.

The registration deadline is July 16, 2026.


Organisers:

  • Daniele Dorigoni (Durham University);
  • Hiromi Ebisu (Riken, iTHEMS);
  • Tobias Hansen (Durham University);
  • Masazumi Honda (Riken, iTHEMS);

Venue:

Durham University, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Scott Logic Lecture Theatre - MCS0001
 

Acknowledgements:

We would be grateful if you could acknowledge this workshop in a paper which is initiated or conducted during this workshop. Here are the samples of acknowledgments:

  • The authors thank the Royal Society under the International Collaboration Award Grant \R2\242058 and the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences Program where this work was initiated [completed] during the "UK-Japan Workshop on Quantum Gravity".
  • The authors thank the Royal Society under the International Collaboration Award Grant \R2\242058 and the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences Program. Discussions during the "UK-Japan Workshop on Quantum Gravity" were useful in completing this work.

Supporting Organisations:

This workshop is supported by the Royal Society International Collaboration Award Grant \R2\242058 "Re-PaInt: A Resurgence Path-Integral approach to quantum gravity".

 
    • 09:00
      Welcome
    • 1
      Monopole versus center vortex through the lens of twisted partition functions

      Proliferation of magnetic objects, such as monopoles and center vortices, provides intuitive explanations for color confinement. However, there does not exist local gauge-invariant definition of those objects in general, and the precise characterization of these confinement criteria is missing. In this talk, we propose the gauge-invariant characterization that distinguishes monopole and center-vortex condensation using the twisted partition functions with 1-form symmetry. After justifying why our proposal is reasonable, we then show that the gapped center-vortex condensed phase necessarily satisfies the monopole condensation using the technique of topological field theories. The talk is based on the recent work in collaboration with Yui Hayashi, https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.17708.

      Speaker: Yuya Tanizaki
    • 10:30
      Coffee Break
    • 2
      Energy-energy correlators at strong coupling

      In this talk, I will describe energy-energy correlators (EEC) in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory at strong coupling. We will show that the EECs are deeply connected to the AdS Virasoro-Shapiro amplitude, a link that allows us to explicitly compute its strong-coupling expansion. We will present these explicit results and also discuss properties of the EECs at strong coupling.

      Speaker: Congkao Wen (Queen Mary University of London)
    • 12:00
      Lunch Break
    • 13:30
      Free Discussion
    • 3
      TBA
      Speaker: Tatsuhiro Misumi (Kindai University)
    • 15:30
      Coffee Break
    • 4
      TBA
      Speaker: Ana-Maria Raclariu
    • 17:00
      Poster Session
    • 5
      TBA
      Speaker: Yasuyuki Hatsuda
    • 10:30
      Coffee Break
    • 6
      TBA
      Speaker: Silvia Nagy
    • 12:00
      Lunch Break
    • 13:30
      Free Discussion
    • 7
      TBA
      Speaker: Hiromi Ebisu (Riken, iTHEMS)
    • 15:30
      Coffee Break
    • 8
      TBA
      Speaker: Francesco Aprile (Complutense University of Madrid)
    • 9
      TBA
      Speaker: Kohtaro Kato
    • 10:30
      Coffee Break
    • 10
      TBA
      Speaker: Adolfo Holguin
    • 12:00
      Lunch Break
    • 13:30
      Free Discussion
    • 11
      Hilbert Space of Jackiw–Teitelboim Gravity in a Closed Universe

      In this talk, I will present a path-integral derivation of the Hilbert space of Jackiw–Teitelboim (JT) gravity in closed universes, in both de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spacetime. Through a careful analysis of the gravitational path integral, we evaluate the inner products exactly and show that the physical Hilbert space is naturally described as a space of coinvariant states equipped with a group-averaged inner product. Our results also have implications for the path-integral measure in configuration space. Furthermore, we propose a nonperturbative completion of this model that incorporates topology-changing processes and possesses a nontrivial finite-dimensional Hilbert space.

      Speaker: Masamichi Miyaji
    • 15:30
      Coffee Break
    • 12
      TBA
      Speaker: Laura Engelbrecht
    • 13
      TBA
      Speaker: Yuya Murakami
    • 10:30
      Coffee Break
    • 14
      TBA
      Speaker: Ioana Coman
    • 12:00
      Lunch Break
    • 13:30
      Free Discussion
    • 15
      TBA
      Speaker: Han Yan
    • 15:30
      Coffee Break
    • 16
      Feynman integrals, black holes, resurgent structure and the cosmohedron

      I discuss a family of massive Feynman integrals whose algebraic geometry involves an elliptic curve at two loops, a K3 surface at three loops, and a Calabi-Yau manifold at four loops. They were originally studied in the context of the magnetic moment of the electron. Remarkably, 4-loop integrals yield the areas of black holes in compactifications of 10-dimensional supergravity. At 2 and 3 loops, quasi-modularity leads to resurgence of structure at large and small momenta, which Daniele Dorigoni and I have extended to encompass large and small couplings in topological string theory. As a grace-note, I conclude with a simple example of resurgence that arises from an asymptotic study of combinatorics of the cosmohedron.

      Speaker: David Broadhurst
    • 17
      TBA
      Speaker: Paul MacFadden
    • 10:30
      Coffee Break
    • 18
      TBA
      Speaker: Rodolfo Russo
    • 12:00
      Concluding Remarks
    • 12:10
      Lunch Break
    • 13:30
      Free Afternoon