A free public lecture titled “100 Years of Quantum Space-time: From Theory to Experiment” will be presented by Daniel Carney from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab at the Aspen Center for Physics on Wednesday, January 15. This event is part of the Nick and Maggie DeWolf Foundation winter lecture series.

The evening will begin at 5:00 PM with tea and cookies, followed by the lecture at 5:30 PM sharp. Free parking is available at the Center and in the surrounding neighborhood. Attendees are also encouraged to use the Downtowner or RFTA Crosstown Shuttle for convenient access.

While the lecture is free, RSVPs are highly recommended.

More than 100 years ago, the basic laws of quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of general relativity were discovered almost simultaneously. It was quickly recognized that combining these theories implied that space and time itself should also follow the laws of quantum mechanics. Yet, for much of the past century, testing this idea experimentally was considered science fiction.

In this talk, Dan Carney will explore three transformative developments in the past two decades that have dramatically shifted this perspective. First, the 1997 discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe, which has forced theorists to re-think what quantities can be observed even in principle, due to the presence of cosmological horizons. Second, the development of the quantum computer, which may allow us to perform simulations of our only self-consistent, detailed model of quantum gravity: string theory. And finally, the advent of advanced quantum detectors, which are now so sensitive that they will soon be capable of directly observing quantum states of the gravitational field itself.

Daniel Carney is a theoretical physicist at Berkeley National Lab. He was originally trained in string theory(-ish) physics and now works at the theory-experiment intersection. His work is centered around the quantum theory of measurement and how it applies to particle physics and gravity. This ranges from proposing new experiments (some of which are now real!) to more formal theoretical work. Ultimately, he strongly suspects that quantum limits to measurement will play a central role in the formulation of a consistent quantum model of general relativity. In the meantime, many of these ideas have applications beyond fundamental physics, particularly to problems in quantum metrology and computing. Before moving to Berkeley, Daniel completed his PhD at the University of Texas, Austin, and postdoctoral training at the University of British Columbia, Canada and the Joint Quantum Institute of the National Institute for Standards and Technology.

BACK TO EVENTS