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Lise-Meitner-Lecture

Professor Renate Loll from the Utrecht University, The Netherlands will speak about: "More than meets the eye: probing the planckian structure of spacetime”. The lecture will be given in German.
The lecture will take place in room H 0105 on Thursday, 29 March, 18 - 19:00 Uhr.

Abstract

More than meets the eye: Probing the Planckian structure of spacetime — ∙Renate Loll — Institute for Theoretical Physics, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Time and Space are at once ubiquitous and mysterious. We are immersed in space and experience the flow of time, but what is their essence and origin? Our view of space and time has undergone radical changes since Newton’s days. In Relativity, they form inseparable parts of a four-dimensional “spacetime”, which moreover can bend and move, encoding the gravitational interactions of matter and energy. Beyond the validity of Einstein’s classical theory, we expect further insights into the nature of spacetime from quantum gravity, the eagerly searched-for unification of relativity and quantum theory: what governs the quantum dynamics of spacetime on ultrashort, Planckian scales? How can it explain the observed macroscopic structure of spacetime? Are space, time, causality and dimensionality still meaningful notions at the Planck scale, or merely emergent properties of a dynamical ensemble of more fundamental microscopic ‘building blocks’?
I will report on recent, unprecedented progress in a new formulation of quantum gravity, a concrete (and computable!) realization in terms of “Causal Dynamical Triangulations” of a Feynman path integral. Intriguingly, it has been possible to extract physical properties of this quantum superposition of spacetimes with the help of numerical “experiments”. They confirm the nonclassical and counter-intuitive nature of spacetime at the Planck scale - including a bizarre behaviour of “dimensions” - and the emergence of classicality on large scales.

Role models-Exhibition: "Lise Meitners Töchter"

From Monday, March 26, to Friday, March 30, there will be an exhibition of 18 posters presenting biographies of "role models" female physicists. It is titled "Lise Meitners Töchter - Physikerinnen stellen sich vor" and aims to encourage women to choose a profession within the field of natural sciences. The exhibition is located in the Main Building (Hauptgebäude H) near the south main entrance towards the campus. It is open to the general public from Monday March 26, 9:00 to Friday March 30, 14:00 and is free of charge.

More informatio about Lise-Meitner-Lectures and "Role-Models"-Exhibition

 
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