Alladi Ramakrishnan Hall

Mock theta functions and their appearance in physics

Sameer Murthy

Nikhef theory group, Amsterdam

Automorphic forms of various types have arisen repeatedly in
diverse areas of physics. In this talk, I shall discuss two related
instances of this type, which involve a recently-defined class of functions
called mock theta functions. The first instance is connected to quantum
black holes in string theory, and the second is connected to the
representations of the largest Mathieu group M24. I will explain these
connections and discuss some properties of these functions. This is based
on joint work with Atish Dabholkar and Don Zagier.