Speaker
Raphael Bousso
(University of California, Berkeley)
Description
Our search for a quantum theory of gravity is aided by a unique and perplexing feature of the classical theory: General Relativity “knows” about its own quantum states (the entropy of a black hole), and about those of all matter (via the Quantum Focusing Conjecture). The results we are able to extract from classical gravity are inherently non-perturbative and increasingly sophisticated. Recent breakthroughs include a derivation of the entropy of Hawking radiation, a computation of the exact integer number of states of some black holes, a proof of the QFC, and the construction of gravitational holograms in general spacetimes. The nature of the oracle, and its full power, remain unknown.
External references
- 25060007
- c6f95812-8cdd-411e-83ec-6dd249d3821a
