check
Physics Colloquium (Bekenstein Memorial Lecture): "Black Holes in the Laboratory" | The Racah Institute of Physics

Physics Colloquium (Bekenstein Memorial Lecture): "Black Holes in the Laboratory"

Date: 
Mon, 08/01/201812:00-13:30
Location: 
Levin building, Lecture Hall No. 8
Lecturer: William G. Unruh, University of British Columbia
Abstract:
Black holes, one of the most surprizing and contentious of the predictions of
Einstein's theory of gravity, have puzzled physicists for the past
century. While the classical aspects were cleared up about 50 years ago, that
was also when the quantum surprize, discovered by Hawking, occured. Are black
holes black, or do they glow? Understanding this puzzle was one of both Jacob
Bekenstein's and my life's work. In 1981 I argued that at least some parts of
this quantum puzzle could be understood in analog systems, with sound waves
(or other waves) in flowing fluids. Since than many systems have been
discovered in which such an analog should work, and in the past 10 years,
these have also begun to be realised in experiments. Aspects of black holes,
seemingly the epitome of remote and, to the non-student of General Relativity,
almost incomprehensible objects, can be studied by individual scientists on
the lab bench. This talk will give a glimpse into this discovery and the
experiments which have been done to realise the quantum glow of black holes in
the lab.