Special Astrophysics/Particle-Physics Seminar: Cosmological Insights Into Quantum Gravity
Professor Avi Loeb, Director of the Institute for Theory & Computation, Harvard University
Abstract:
The lecture will describe a few new insights into quantum gravity from cosmology. First, the Planck era could have started earlier than expected given a tiny anisotropy in the Hubble expansion at late times. The resulting thermal graviton background could potentially be detected in the future. Second, under reasonable assumptions the cosmological constant can be related to fundamental constants, such as the electron charge and mass and Newton's constant. Finally, the fate of matter near the centers of black holes and the long-term future of the universe offer additional interesting testbeds for quantum gravity.
Seminar Organizer: Prof. Dan Maoz
