CPT

Calendar of Physics Talks Vienna

General Relativity from a Quantum Field Theory Perspective
Speaker:Prof. John F. Donoghue (Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst)
Abstract:2. Vorlesung im Rahmen der Schrödinger-Gastprofessur 2015
Date: Tue, 20.10.2015
Time: 16:15
Duration: 60 min
Location:Fakultät für Physik, Erwin-Schrödinger-Hörsaal, Boltzmanngasse 5, 5. Stock
Contact:P.T. Chrusciel, A. Hoang, H. Neufeld

Computational Complexity and Fundamental Physics
Speaker:Scott Aaronson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Abstract:On October 21, 2015, Scott Aaronson will give an IST Lecture titled “Computational Complexity and Fundamental Physics”. He is Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has received various awards including the Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation. His primary area of research is quantum computing and computational complexity theory. In his lecture, Scott Aaronson will discuss how computational complexity theory - the study of what is and isn’t feasibly computable - has been giving us new insight into the nature of physical law. He will give his personal view of quantum computing's key ideas, status, and prospects, placing the attempt to build practical quantum computers in the broader context of the quest to understand the ultimate physical limits of computation.
Date: Wed, 21.10.2015
Time: 17:00
Duration: 60 min
Location:IST Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg, Raiffeisen Lecture Hall
Contact:http://ist.ac.at/events/community-events/2015/ist-lecture-scott-aaronson/date/479/

Large-field inflation in string theory? — Evading no-go-theorems from the Weak Gravity Conjecture
Speaker:Lukas Witkowski (University of Heidelberg)
Abstract:Promising approaches to large-field inflation from string theory are difficult to construct, even at a superficial level. The simplest constructions fail and one requires technically involved models which face many challenges from data as well as from the model building side. Are these difficulties a hint that string theory does not admit large-field inflation? Indeed, recently it was argued that the Weak Gravity Conjecture — a folk theorem about consistent theories of Quantum Gravity — is in conflict with a large class of inflation models from string theory. In this talk I want to review this conjecture and explain its significance for large-field inflation from string theory. Interestingly, the conjecture leaves a loophole for large-field inflation and I will explore to what extent string theory can exploit this loophole.
Date: Thu, 22.10.2015
Time: 10:30
Duration: 60 min
Location:SEM, TU Wien, Freihaus, yellow tower, 3rd floor (Wiedner Hauptstr. 8-10, A-1040 Vienna)
Contact:Timm Wrase

Introduction to uniqueness problems in general relativity and the reconstruction of linear waves from radiative properties
Speaker:Volker Schlue (Laboratoire Jacques-Louis Lions Université Paris 6 – Pierre et Marie Curie Sorbonne Universités)
Abstract:im Rahmen des Seminars in Geometric Analysis and Physics (GAP Seminar)
Date: Thu, 22.10.2015
Time: 11:00
Duration: 60 min
Location:Arbeitsgruppe Gravitation, Währinger Strasse 17, Seminarraum A, 2. Stock, 1090 Wien
Contact:M. Bauer (Fak. Math, U.V.), V. Branding (Fak. Math, T.U.), D. Fajman (Fak. Phys, U.V.), J. Joudioux (Fak. Phys, U.V.)