
The O(N) Grassmannian
Hayden Lee, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, presents recent work on reformulating correlation functions in the large-N O(N) vector model using Grassmannian geometry. Speaking at the Institute for Advanced Study's High Energy Theory Seminar in the Bloomberg Lecture Hall, Lee lays out the motivation from higher-spin holography, where the O(N) model is believed to be dual to a theory of higher-spin fields in anti-de Sitter space. He shows how casting the correlators in Grassmannian language produces a compact formula for n-point functions, replacing what would otherwise be an unwieldy combinatorial sum. The talk works through the construction step by step, pointing to an underlying geometric structure that organizes the model's observables and suggests connections to broader programs in scattering amplitudes. Aimed at researchers and graduate students in theoretical and mathematical physics, this is a technical seminar presentation rather than an introductory lecture, running just over ninety minutes with blackboard-style derivation and audience questions.