Disordered Vector Models: From Higher Spins to Incipient Strings.

We present a one-parameter family of large N disordered models, with and without supersymmetry, in three spacetime dimensions. They interpolate from the critical large N vector model dual to a classical higher spin theory toward a theory with a classical string dual. We analyze the spectrum and operator product expansion data of the theories.

Inflow Mechanism for Hydrodynamic Entropy.

We argue that entropy production in hydrodynamics can be understood via a superspace inflow mechanism. Our arguments are based on a recently developed formalism for constructing effective actions for Schwinger-Keldysh observables in quantum field theories. The formalism explicitly incorporates microscopic unitarity and the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger thermal periodicity conditions, by recasting them in terms of topological Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin symmetries of the effective action.

Central Charges and the Sign of Entanglement in 4D Conformal Field Theories.

We explore properties of the universal terms in the entanglement entropy and logarithmic negativity in 4D conformal field theories, aiming to clarify the ways in which they behave like the analogous entanglement measures in quantum mechanics. We show that, unlike entanglement entropy in finite-dimensional systems, the sign of the universal part of entanglement entropy is indeterminate. In particular, if and only if the central charges obey a>c, the entanglement across certain classes of entangling surfaces can become arbitrarily negative, depending on the geometry and topology of the surface.

Eightfold Classification of Hydrodynamic Dissipation.

We provide a complete characterization of hydrodynamic transport consistent with the second law of thermodynamics at arbitrary orders in the gradient expansion. A key ingredient in facilitating this analysis is the notion of adiabatic hydrodynamics, which enables isolation of the genuinely dissipative parts of transport. We demonstrate that most transport is adiabatic.