VCQ Colloquium Talk by Abhay Ashtekar

"On the Quantum Nature of the Coulombic Interaction"

VCQ Colloquium Talk by Abhay Ashtekar on 16th January 2023

 

We are glad to present  

 

Abhay Ashtekar

The Pennsylvania State University

 

Monday, 16th January 2023 at 17:00

Lise-Meitner Lecture Hall, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna

 

On the Quantum Nature of the Coulombic Interaction

 

The interface between Quantum Information and Quantum Field Theory – especially Quantum Gravity – is emerging as a forefront area of fundamental physics. But there is some tension between the way the basic concept of ‘locality’ is commonly understood by the two communities. This tension descends to the issues of interpretation of precisely what would be tested by experiments that have been proposed to probe the quantum nature of gravity. Recall that Hilbert spaces H_grav and H_ph of gravitons and photons know only about the ‘radiative modes of the gravitational and electromagnetic fields. But matter sources also give rise to ‘Coulombic modes. Are the ‘Coulombic parts of the gravitational and electromagnetic fields produced by quantum matter also quantum mechanical, then? If so, in what sense? The ‘Coulombic modes are not even ‘registered in the Hilbert spaces H_grav and H_ph! Will the proposed experiments directly test the quantum nature of the ‘radiative aspects or ‘Coulombic aspects? The talk will examine such elementary issues by drawing on an exactly soluble, non-perturbative quantum gravity model that is especially well-suited for this purpose.

 

17:00

get-together with drinks and snacks

17:30

VCQ Student talk

17:45

Colloquium talk by Abhay Ashtekar

 

Host: Markus Aspelmeyer

 

For further information and a Zoom link please visit: https://vcq.quantum.at/colloquium-ws-22/

 

The lecture series is organized by the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ).

 

Location:
Lise-Meitner Lecture Hall, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna
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