报告题目：Spacetime in Superposition

报  告 人：Robert B. Mann 教授，加拿大滑铁卢大学

研究方向：黑洞、量子引力、粒子物理和弦理论

报告时间：2024年10月25日（星期五）上午10:00

报告地点：量子楼410

报告摘要：

If relativistic gravitation has a quantum description, it must be meaningful to consider a spacetime metric in a genuine quantum superposition. But how might such a superposition be described, and how could observers detect it? I will present a new operational framework for studying “superpositions of spacetimes” via model particle detectors. After presenting the general approach, I show how it can be applied to describe a spacetime generated that is a superposition of two expanding spacetimes. I will then move on to show how black holes in two spatial dimensions can be placed in a superposition of masses and how such detectors would respond. The response exhibits signatures of quantum-gravitational effects reminiscent of Bekenstein’s seminal conjecture concerning the quantized mass spectrum of black holes in quantum gravity. I will provide further remarks concerning the meaning of the spacetime metric, and on distinguishing spacetime superpositions that are genuinely quantum-gravitational, notably with reference to recent proposals to test gravitationally-induced entanglement.

报告人简介：

加拿大滑铁卢大学教授,加拿大物理学会会士、前主席以及《加拿大物理》杂志主编,主要研究领域：黑洞、量子引力、粒子物理和弦理论。