Talks

The fundamentally different localization concepts of QT, i.e. the Born-(Newton-Wigner) localization of (relativistic) QM as compared with the causal localization (modular localization) of QFT, lead to significant differences in the nature of local observables and affiliated states. This in turn results in a rather sharp distinction between a tensor-factorization and information-theoretic entanglement in QM on the one hand, and a more radical \"thermal entanglement” responsible for an area law for localization entropy. These surprising differences can be traced back to the very different nature of the localized operator algebras in QFT: they are all isomorphic (independent of the localization region) to one abstract \"monad\" (borrowing terminology from Leibniz) and the full reality of QFT (including its symmetries) is contained in the positioning of a finite rather small number (2 for chiral theories, 6 for d=1+3,...) within a joint Hilbert space. It is an important open question to what extend such positional characterizations (where the individual monads are void of any physical properties which reside fully in their relative placements) can be generalized to CST or QG.

In the 1980’s when Vera Rubin was analyzing how stars in galaxies revolve around the galactic core, she made an incredible discovery. The stars where moving much faster than anyone expected. This discovery helped open up a door in physics whose implications are far stranger than the best plot in any science fiction movie. Join us as we explore the mystery of dark matter.

The reason cosmologists have a job is that the Universe as a whole -- the stuff between planets and stars and galaxies -- is, despite first appearances, a pretty interesting place. The strangest fact about it is that it\'s expanding, and always has been, as far as we know (and though Einstein\'s theory of gravity predicts this, Albert himself didn\'t much care for the idea, at least at first). After about seventy years -- it was discovered in 1929 -- this expansion was kind of old hat, but then new observations came around that shattered the old complacency. The old idea was that the Universe was expanding, but slowing down as it went -- since gravity, as far as anyone knew, could only cause attractive forces. What the new observations demonstrated is that the Universe\'s expansion is, in fact, accelerating -- getting faster with time. This is so shocking that most astronomers and cosmologists couldn\'t believe it at first, and some still don\'t. In this talk, I\'ll explain a bit about how we know this, why it\'s so shocking, and tell you something about the crazy ideas people at Perimeter have for what\'s going on.

One simple way to think about physics is in terms of information. We gain information about physical systems by observing them, and with luck this data allows us to predict what they will do next. Quantum mechanics doesn't just change the rules about how physical objects behave - it changes the rules about how information behaves. In this talk we explore what quantum information is, and how strangely it differs from our intuitions. In particular we see how information about quantum particles can become entangled, leading to seemingly impossibly coordinated behaviour for separate objects, and to phenomena such as quantum teleportation.

A “derivation” of the Schrodinger wave equation based on simple calculus.
Learning Outcomes:
• How to express the de Broglie wave of a free particle, i.e. a complex traveling wave, in terms of the particle’s energy and momentum, and how to differentiate this wave with respect to its space and time variables (x and t).
• How to combine the above mathematical results with the Newtonian expression for the total energy of a particle to get Schrodinger’s wave equation.
• Dirac’s extension of these ideas to Einstein’s expression for the total energy of a particle: introduction to spin, antimatter, and the Standard Model of particle physics.

The de Broglie waves we have been using thus far were assumed to be real functions; we discuss why this is wrong and how to fix the problem.
Learning Outcomes:
• Understanding why there is a serious flaw with using real de Broglie waves, and how using a complex wave (one with both a real and an imaginary part) solves the problem.
• Understanding how the de Broglie wave corresponding to a free particle is like a moving corkscrew, with a magnitude that is uniform across space and constant in time.
• When right- and left-travelling de Broglie waves (“corkscrews”) are added, as happens for a particle in a box, we get a complex standing wave whose magnitude is constant in time.

Learning Outcomes:
• How the complex standing wave states of an electron in a one-dimensional box are “stationary states” in that the electron probability pattern is static (not changing with time).
• However, if the electron is put in a superposition of two such stationary states (with different energies), its probability pattern is not static, but rather oscillates back and forth; understanding how this oscillation is connected with photon emission and absorption.
• Understanding how these ideas apply to the atom, and how a LASER works (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).

We will review the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, first formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, and the role they played in the famous debate between Einstein and Bohr on the meaning of quantum theory. Along the way we will focus on questions like: what do we mean by "uncertainty", and how do we express that in the theory? What, in fact, is a physical property? Does a theory like quantum mechanics provide a description of physical reality? Interestingly, some of these questions do not have a unique answer.