Colloquium – Edgar Shaghoulian

Edgar Shaghoulian, University of California, Santa Cruz

Black holes, cosmology, and quantum entanglement

Stephen Hawking’s black hole information paradox is a conflict between gravity and quantum mechanics, and it has been both a crisis and a guiding light for theoretical physicists for over 40 years. I will describe recent work showing that wormholes in quantum gravity lead to a new formula for entropy — this formula corrects Hawking’s and is consistent with both gravity and quantum mechanics. Tools from quantum information science then imply the surprising idea that we can manipulate the interior of a black hole from the safety of our laboratory, without ever jumping in. I will end by using this new paradigm to provide an example of such nonlocal connections in cosmology.

Mar 30, 2023 @ 4:00pm Central in Stevenson 4327; reception beforehand at 3:30pm in Stevenson 6333

Host: A. Lupsasca; co-hosted by VandyGRAF

To join via Zoom, please contact Reina Beach (reina.beach@vanderbilt.edu) to request the Zoom link.